Roberta Mock

Abstract vividly coloured painting of people promenading. There are 2 central figures, one of which seems to be a woman wearing a hat with big red blobby eyes.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

15. Impression VI (Sunday) (1911) by Wassily Kandinsky

Philippe Gaulier, clown guru and mentor to theatre and comedy greats, dies aged 82 Sacha Baron Cohen pays tribute to teacher who ran school outside Paris and was a formative influence on countless comedians and actors

Philippe Gaulier has died - the man who trained and influenced so many of my favourite performers and theatre-makers.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/f...

A gouache painting in red looking between the open legs of a blobby watery headless woman who is expelling a blur. At the top of this shape are breasts pointing toward the top of the canvas.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

14. The Birth (2007) by Louise Bourgeois

Photo of a wall mural with planters on the floor underneath it. It represents the manufacturing process of the exterior automobile parts, with a focus on technology including huge parts-pressing machines. In the centre of the mural are factory workers working on an axle. In the background, there are people touring the assembly line.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

13. The Detroit Industry Murals (1932–1933) by Diego Rivera

I'm sure I'm forgetting some really obvious ones!

A gestural fragmented painting that merges together three naked torsos with large breasts, each topped with the artist's own head seen at different angles

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

12. Ruben’s Flap (1998–99) by Jenny Saville

This is a vibrant gouache painting featuring four skeletons in pink, blue and white all wearing hats and dancing in a night-time meadow. In the background there is a gallows and in the sky a round white moon with a face.

Still going! Now over half way!

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

11. Dancing Skeletons (1934) by Edward Burra

A painting that is made up of a series of wavy, vertical stripes in red, turquoise, and grey. These bands unfurl like ribbons, increasing in intensity towards the centre of the square canvas. The lines broaden and thin in a rhythm that creates the illusion of movement, vibration and depth.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

10. Cataract 3 (1967) by Bridget Riley

A wooden window frame with 9 small squares on the top and a single pane the same size as the 9 together on the bottom. There are images in each of these boxes including a skeleton, moons and stars, a phenological head, a lion with a sun in its mouth, and a dancing couple. The main one on the bottom features a silhouette of a girl with an afro. You can see her eyes and her hands are pressed against the panes of the glass. On the hands are different astrological symbols in yellow and red.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

9. Black Girl's Window (1969) by Betye Saar

A vivid painting of a simple, colourful but disorientating room with a bright red carpet and domestic details. A couple floats in mid-air, with the woman holding flowers and the man twisting his neck in a gravity-defying kiss.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

8. Birthday (1915) by Marc Chagall

Portrait of Jean Genet in dark strong black lines, facing the viewer. He is seated and legs look large and head small, hands clasped between his knees.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

7. Portrait de Jean Genet (1954-1955) by Alberto Giacometti

Join us for “Spectres of Sexual Danger: The Safety Politics of the For Women Scotland Supreme Court Decision” with Prof Sarah Lamble.

🗓️ Tuesday 17th February
🕒 3–4pm
📍 Location details via sign-up (link on the flyer)

Let’s clarify this.

Steven Bannon takes Epstein‘s money to fund far right activities in Europe which Nigel Farage attends & benefits from but the UK media have decided that this isn’t worth mentioning or investigating.

Call for Book Proposals:

Book Series »Studies on the Interaction of Art, Thought and Power«

Ricardo Mendoza-Canales (Lisbon) and I are relaunching and co-editing the peer-reviewed book series »Studies on the Interaction of Art, Thought and Power« at Brill.

This is a painting depicting residents of an English village rising from their graves in a churchyard.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

6. The Resurrection, Cookham
(1924-7) by Stanley Spencer

The central figure of this painting is Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, who is riding an alligator and holding a feather, engaging with characters such as a British soldier, a basketball player, and a mermaid. The painting features a triangular, Rococo-style composition. There's lots going on here and it's very colourful.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

5. Miss America (2012) by Kent Monkman

The Methuen Drama Handbook of Gender and Theatre Shortlisted for the 2024 TaPRA Edited Collection PrizeThis is a guide to contemporary debates and theatre practices at a time when gender paradigms are both in…

Our book, The Methuen Drama Handbook of Gender and Theatre, is now out in paperback, and can now be purchased for £35.99 (which is massively cheaper than the hardback version that came out at the start of 2024). 👇🏻

@methuendrama.bsky.social

When anyone from SCTV dies it’s like 30 people have died. Every character they created was as alive as anyone else you’ve ever met.

Gouache expressionist self portrait of Salomon with her back towards the viewer and feet tucked under her. She's wearing a swimming costume and facing a vivid blue sea which she is painting. On her back are the words "Leben Oder The-ater" in large black letters.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

4. Leben? oder Theater? (Life? or Theatre?, 1940-42) by Charlotte Salomon

Oh no! 🖤

Great advice as always from Pat Thomson for emergent researchers who are wondering about the conventions of abstract writing...

This is a painting using monotype and gouache on paper. It depicts a rustic dwelling within a rugged Cornish landscape. The painting is expressive rather than naturalistic.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

3. Cornish Farm (1948) by Bryan Wynter

A quick reminder that @feministstudies.bsky.social is accepting submissions for its annual graduate student prize.

Semi-abstract painting of fireworks over the River, with a dark colour palette of blue, green, and black, punctuated by golden specks of light.

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

2. Nocturne in Black and Gold The Falling Rocket (1875) by James Whistler

🎭 2 paid commissions for Scottish South Asian playwrights

£2,750 & license fee & full dramaturgical support

Deadline: 16 March

Details: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/south-asian-...

This is the painting, Henry Ford Hospital, by Frida Kahlo. Frida is lying on a hospital bed naked with blood and hemorrhage. Her body is twisted and the bed is tipped up. There are six objects flying around her including a male fetus, an orchid that looks like a uterus, and a snail. The objects are attached to red ribbons she holds in her hands next to her stomach .

Okay, I will play...

Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

1. Henry Ford Hospital (1932) by Frida Kahlo

Yiddish was spoken by 5 million of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Yiddish is an absolutely crucial language for Holocaust research.

This Holocaust Memorial Day, you can support Yiddish at universities facing cuts to the Humanities, including UCL.

🧵 1/4

Love Lies Bleeding Kristen Stewart's Lou falls for a bodybuilder in the pulpy romantic thriller. Read Empire's review.

What I watched tonight. You should too (on Netflix now). www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...

YouTube video by NTS Digging with Laurie Anderson and Flo

I loved finding out that Laurie Anderson was mates with Andy Kaufman.

youtu.be/dM8jALV5YXM?...

Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful Engaging in creativity can reduce depression, improve immunity and delay ageing – all while you’re having fun

"I bet if a new drug came on the market offering the same catalogue of benefits as the arts, most people would want to take it. Instead, many of us see engaging in the arts as a luxury rather than a necessity. Even though they may be exactly what we need to improve our health and wellbeing."