To the Palais des Beaux-Arts this morning, to a major retrospective, scheduled to coincide with the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, of Per Kirkeby’s work, together with an intriguing exhibition of Kurt Schwitters’  ‘forbidden paintings’. Exiled from Nazi Germany by the allegedly ‘degenerate’ nature of his work, Schwitters lived for some time in Norway, where he started to paint realistically (and very well) – this despite previously having been a major representative of the avant-garde in Germany. Kirkeby was fascinated by this discovery. Two of Schwitters’ paintings (in the exhibition) hang on his wall ‘like icons, seeing to it that I don’t forget the blessing of “stylelessness”.’ As the programme notes put it, ‘Like Schwitters, Kirkeby refuses to let himself be pigeonholed; his art transcends the dominant spirit of his time.’ That is indeed a dominant theme of this very rich exhibition. Kirkeby has been extraordinarily inventive but in artistic terms always true to nobody but himself. In short, this exhibition is a must-see.