The Art of Life – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of The Art of Life the Booker-shortlisted novelist and poet Adam Foulds picks three of his favourites works of art, taking us from Georges Seurat to John Soane via the photographer William Eggleston. He talks about familiar artworks serving as ‘autobiographical anchors’, and how much he cherishes his visits to the National Gallery in London (which has a cameo in his most recent novel, Dream Sequence). He also shares details of his favourite museum in Toronto, where he now lives.

1. Bathers at Asnières, 1848, Georges Seurat (1894–1984). National Gallery, London.
   
   
2. Boy in Red Sweater, 1971, William Eggleston (b. 1939).
   
   
3. Sir John Soane's Museum, London.

Hosted by Sophie Barling

Sound editing by Matthew Taylor

In this episode of The Art of Life the Booker-shortlisted novelist, essayist and photographer Maaza Mengiste picks out three works of art that have been significant for her, taking us from a photograph of an armed Ethiopian woman by one of her Italian invaders in the 1930s to Velázquez’s portrait of Juan de Pareja, via a painting-photograph by the Portuguese artist Helena Almeida. Of the Ethiopian photograph and its companions – which Maaza has collected over the years in flea markets and antique shops in Italy and beyond – she explains how the power dynamic between subject and maker fascinates her, and how she began to see these photographs as self-portraits. 'It has completely rearranged the way I think about images; I have begun to think of paintings as self-portraits, regardless of what’s actually on canvas or within the frame.’ Maaza discusses her most recent novel The Shadow King, and how these photographs relate to it, as well as her love of Homer and the poet Christopher Logue. And there’s one question she begs us all to ask older members of our families: ‘What haven’t you told me?’

1. Bogalesc or Bogalech, Debre Birhan, Ethiopia, c. 1937, unknown photographer

2. Pintura Habitada (1977/2007), Helena Almeida (1934–2018)

3. Juan de Pareja (1606–1670) (1650), Velázquez (1599–1660). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste is published in the UK by Canongate. Project 3541, a photographic archive of the 1935–41 Italo-Ethiopian War, can be found here.

Hosted by Sophie Barling

Sound editing by Matthew Taylor

In this episode of The Art of Life the journalist, author and classicist Charlotte Higgins picks out three works of art that have been significant for her, taking us from Meredith Frampton to Velázquez via Phyllida Barlow. She discusses her latest book, a retelling of the Greek myths that puts female characters centre stage, for which she grappled with an ancient-style loom – learning along the way that she would never have made a good Roman matron. Charlotte also talks about stealing from Muriel Spark, and the privilege that comes with being a journalist in her field. ‘Why would anyone want to do any other job?’

1. A Game of Patience, 1937, Meredith Frampton (1894–1984). Ferens Art Gallery.

1. dock, 2014, Phyllida Barlow (b. 1944). Tate Britain commission for the Duveen Galleries.

1. The Spinners, or the Fable of Arachne, 1655–60, Diego Velázquez (1599–1660). Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins is published by Jonathan Cape. Greek Myths, a print portfolio by Chris Ofili accompanying the book, is available from Victoria Miro.

Hosted by Sophie Barling

Sound editing by Matthew Taylor