The Globe and Mail
Visual Arts
Magdalene Odundo vase The celebrated British potter Dame Magdalene Odundo turns clay into living things, curvaceous vessels that slyly evoke the human body. In the current show of her work at the Gardiner Museum, one standout is from the Gardiner’s own collection, a vase with a fecund belly and bony spine.TONI HAFKENSCHEID/Handout
From a single black pot to a seven-channel video installation, arts critic Kate Taylor picks 10 standout pieces for the year, in no particular order.
Read more from Kate Taylor on her picks for the 10 most notable art works
Film
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cillian Murphy in a scene from “Oppenheimer.” (Universal Pictures via AP)Melinda Sue Gordon/The Associated Press
It only makes sense that 2023 at the movies would be defined by Barbenheimer – this was a year that toggled uneasily between bubblegum-bright optimism and apocalyptic doom.
The good news is that moviegoers proved there was life beyond the couch, at least when theatres offered original, groundbreaking cinema. The bad news – well, how long do you have? Between the meltdowns of trusted blockbuster brands (will The Marvels and Wish prove to be Disney’s endgame?) and the dual strikes that shut down Hollywood, it was hard to shake off the feeling that moviegoing is facing a crisis that not even Barbenheimer (or Taylor Swift) can solve.
Yet swinging back to optimism, the past year delivered so many excellent films – across the budgetary scale, from both studios and streamers – that this feels like a landmark year, as good (or perhaps better) than the most recent high of 2019. Here are the top 10 films of 2023 and how to watch (most of) them right now.
Read more from Barry Hertz on the 10 best films of the year (plus: how to watch them now)
Television
The Bear’s Jeremy Allen WhiteCourtesy of FX/FX
If 2022 was the height of Peak TV – upwards of 600 scripted series vying for overwhelmed eyeballs – then 2023 was the Great TV Descent. Thanks to the dual strikes that stalled Hollywood for the better part of the past 12 months – not to mention all but the largest streaming services failing to turn a profit – it can’t help but feel as if things are looking, well, down. But even if the next few years are going to be supremely messy, there will always be diamonds hidden amid the transport trucks of coal. To that end, here are The Globe and Mail’s Top 10 TV Series of 2023.
Read more by Barry Hertz and Rebecca Tucker for their top TV picks
Theatre
The Master Plan stars Peter Fernandes and Ben Carlson (in background)Handout
Theatre companies are still experiencing challenges rebuilding after the pandemic shutdowns. But if that was sometimes visible in the seats this year, it wasn’t on the stages where audiences were treated to blockbuster spectacles and ambitious new plays.
We put together this top 10 list (or 11) of plays we saw in Toronto, at the Stratford Festival and at the Shaw Festival, where our stage coverage is most concentrated.
Read more from J. Kelly Nestruck and Glenn Sumi
Albums and headline-making songs
Leslie Fiest Album art MultitudesHandout
It’s been a busy year in music: from the pandemonium of Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras Tour to the series of health-related concert cancellations and the rise of AI-generated music, there was a lot going on in 2023. Great music serves as a statement about a time and place while beckoning toward the future. Music writers Josh O’Kane and Brad Wheeler share their thoughts on the musical year that was.
Read more from Josh O’Kane on the top albums of 2023
Read more from Brad Wheeler on the noteable songs of 2023
Books
Globe 100 books 2023Christie Vuong/The Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail editors and reviewers offer up our annual guide to the best fiction, non-fiction, thrillers, graphic novels, picture books and cookbooks of the year.
Read full list of 100 best books of 2023