ART: THE FIVE BEST SHOWS IN LONDON ... AND BEYOND

1

Jackson Pollock Tate Gallery

Big, revelatory retrospective for the wild hero of Abstract Expressionism going on Old Master. The build-up is slow and the end uncertain, but the brief "drip" period deserves every superlative. To 6 Jun

2

Thinking Aloud Camden Arts Centre

Idiosyncratic exploration of creativity in art and life: an assortment of rough drafts, doodles, try-outs, prototypes and makeshift solutions. To 30 May

3

Orazio Gentileschi National Gallery

Small but classy show for 7th-century master: narrative paintings full of physical awkwardness and peculiar emphases, including the most startling donkey in Western art. To 23 May

4

New Art for a New Era Barbican Gallery

Russian avant-garde paintings from around 920 from the Bolshevik government's official modern art collection, established by Malevich when political and artistic revolutions were briefly in step. To 27 Jun

5

The Painter's Eye NPG

Art-science crossover project, probing the secrets of painting: portraitist Humphrey Ocean is brain-scanned, eye-tracked and hand-monitored as he works. To 3 Jun

Antony Gormley's `Field' firstsite at Roman House, Colchester

One of the hits of the decade: a sea of 40,000 pint-sized clay men - obedient, expectant, menacing, and stopping dead in a line at your feet. To 23 May

2

Andreas Gursky Dean Gallery, Edinburgh

Photographs 994-98: huge, panoramic, high-finish, micro-detailed, digitally manipulated images of our world - stock exchange floor, city- scape, hotel foyer. Vistas of more than the eye can see. To 6 May

3

ESP IKON Gallery, Birmingham

Contemporary artists investigate the paranormal in weird group show, including Susan Hiller's frightening and wonderful video installation about the psychic powers of children. To 3 Jun

4

Terry Frost Plymouth Arts Centre

St Ives survivor and ancient of British abstraction. His sharp, bright rounds, lines and wedges figure boats, harbours and sea airs. To 30 May

5

Dutch Paintings Southampton City Art Gallery

Twenty masterpieces of the Golden Age begin a tour of the country. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Ruisdale and Hobbema star. To 3 Jun