Banksy’s Heartbreaking Christmas Mural
Also: Messy Egyptian gods at The Met, the moral weight of nativity scenes, and the British Museum’s latest “decolonizing” stunt.
It's the week of Christmas, and whether you celebrate or not, we hope you get to spend some quality time with your family. But should you find yourself trapped in yet another spectacularly petty debate (guilty ...), we hope you'll also take solace in the fact that families — even the divine ones — have been messy since the time of Ancient Egypt. Greta Rainbow holds your hand through the delicious drama, which is on full view at The Met’s Divine Egypt show.
But the holiday season brings not just living room squabbles but ideological battles waged on a national and global stage. Banksy just painted a sobering mural in London addressing child homelessness — a stark reminder during a season meant for warmth, safety, and joy. Meanwhile, Christian nationalists often decry a so-called "war on Christmas" — all while pearl-clutching when Christian values are fully on view, as in a nativity scene protesting ICE's family separations and deportations at a parish in Dedham, Massachusetts. As Ed Simon writes, nativity scenes are inherently political — they declare that God dwells in the lowliest of places, among the marginalized and dispossessed. That's the true spirit of the holidays.
If you value arts journalism that connects ancient gods to modern politics and insists that art is essential to understanding the world, please consider becoming a paid Hyperallergic member. We'd be grateful for your gift this holiday season.
— Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
The Messy Family Drama of Ancient Egyptian Gods
Every family archetype is on view in Divine Egypt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then some — the mother of magic, the runt of the litter, and something for the cat ladies, too.
The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation Launches Platform Dalí, a New Art and Science Program
Inspired by Dalí’s vision and his engagement with scientific work, this program seeks to explore the limits of knowledge and imagination through dialogue between art and science.
News
- Banksy's latest mural in a quiet London neighborhood depicts a pair of bundled-up children stargazing — possibly a reference to the more than 100,000 unhoused children in the nation's capital.
- In a new letter, the White House renewed its threat to withhold funding from the Smithsonian Institution unless it hands over programming plans and other documents to be evaluated for their commitment to celebrating “American exceptionalism.”
Opinion
British Museum Launches Farcical “Decolonizing” Loan Program
The Institute of Imperial Loot — sorry, the storied British institution — has launched a long-term loans program that sent 80 Greek and Egyptian antiquities to India. "It is a rebranding exercise that preserves colonial power structures while pretending to dismantle them," Emiline Smith writes.
Must-Read
The Egalitarian Vision of Nativity Scenes
From 5,000 years ago in the Sahara Desert through Botticelli during the Renaissance to today, Ed Simon argues that nativity scenes are inherently political, "declaring the sacred dignity of all human beings and our moral obligations to one another."
The Burlington Magazine
Travel Bursaries to Study European Drawings
Emerging art historians can apply for travel funding to visit major collections around the world to study works of Western art on paper from the Renaissance to 1900. Bursaries range from £2,000 to £3,500. Applications are welcomed from postgraduate and curatorial researchers worldwide.
Deadline: February 1, 2026 | burlington.org.uk
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
Member Comment
Holly Wong on "The Best Art Shows Around the World in 2025":
From the Archive
Banksy Paints Mural of Judge Beating Protester After Mass Arrests in London
Earlier this year, the British street artist offered another moral commentary with a mural depicting a judge beating a protester, painted after almost 900 people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
