Hidden Portraits: The Untold Stories of Six Women Who Loved Picasso by Sue Roe review – artist as lothario

Françoise Gilot is the most compelling figure in this biography of the painter’s lovers – but you get the feeling she would have loathed this book

Penis-inscribed tables and parking meter chairs: the lost queer genius of House of Beauty and Culture

Boy George bought their provocative furniture; fashion giant Martin Margiela embraced deconstruction after visiting their loose change-strewn shop. So why is the groundbreaking 80s design collective so little known?

Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo review – masterpieces from a man with a heart as big as the Notre Dame

From hanged men and inky cephalopods to shadowy gothic castles, these cosmic, horror-tinged works let the Les Misérables writer and liberal political campaigner speak directly to us

‘The Polynesians loved him’: the astonishing revelations that cast Paul Gauguin in a new light

He has been tarred as a French colonialist who spread syphilis to underage girls in the South Seas. But, writes the author of an acclaimed new book, fresh discoveries challenge this view of the artist – and even show him as a hero

On my radar: Georgia Ellery’s cultural highlights

The Black Country, New Road and Jockstrap musician on a YouTube philosopher, the power of Munch and her love of saunas and Japanese onsen

William S Burroughs’s art: ‘He said, I killed the only woman I loved. Then broke down sobbing’

Notorious for his drug-fuelled literary experiments and the fact that he shot his partner, beat writer Burroughs also made art inspired by the climate crisis

The big idea: should we abolish art?

Down with expensive trophies at art fairs: it’s time to reclaim a more radical vision of creativity

Vincent Fantauzzo on childhood abuse, Heath Ledger and what’s wrong with the art world: ‘I was destined to fail’

Now one of Australia’s most successful artists, Fantauzzo opens up on his traumatic childhood in his memoir – with stories not even his wife Asher Keddie knew

On my radar: Bobby Baker’s cultural highlights

The artist on a moving biography of George Orwell’s wife, a theatre company that should be available on the NHS, and the joy of a good crime drama

Buy an exclusive cartoon by Tom Gauld to celebrate World Book Day

In this month’s limited-time print drop, we’re celebrating World Book Day with three exclusive cartoons by Tom Gauld. This special edition sale ends on 8 March

‘The banks thought we were mad’: coral castles and look-at-me loos reinvent New York housing

With building codes strict and land values high, Big Apple apartment blocks tend to be grim. But two firms, SO-IL and Tankhouse, are fighting back with lush courtyards, breezy landings – and glass-walled toilets 15 storeys up

The big picture: a gaggle of visitors gather beneath London’s Shard

Photographer Andy Hall​’s atmospheric new series captures the capital’s eerie financial heart

On my radar: Alison Goldfrapp’s cultural highlights

The electropop star on her favourite quirky bookshop, Marmite and cheese pastries and the second series of Severance

Jules Feiffer, award-winning political cartoonist and writer, dies at 95

The provocative Pulitzer prize-winner was known for his edgy comic strip and his screenplay for Carnal Knowledge

Orgies, vampires and jewel-laden tortoises: it’s time we buried the myths of decadence in art

Is western civilisation being destroyed by its own decadence? Was the Roman empire? And does a preference for Lord of the Rings over The Matrix indicate that we are all doomed? Our critic tries to sift fact from fiction …