From Bruegel to Nabokov and The Silence of the Lambs, butterflies have flitted through our imaginations and into our culture. Patrick Barkham pins up the choice specimens – and finds out why new film The Duke of Burgundy is awash with them
It’s not all super-yachts and spending binges: Art Dubai, which begins this week, is opening doors for some of the most marginalised voices in art
Centuries before Maru the YouTube star, cats were revered in Japan – despite the fact they are not native to the country. That love endures, as a new show reveals
Supposed damage to Van Gogh’s paintings is minimal, but other masterpieces by Leonardo and Duchamp et al are showing the ravages of time
As a new show at the National Gallery explores the influence of Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who ‘made’ the impressionists, Rachel Cooke highlights other great patrons and collectors
A Gauguin painting has sold for a reported $300m, making it the most expensive painting ever sold. See how it compares with other pricey paintings that have sold for vast sums