Vermeer and the Delft School (National Gallery, 2001)
The highlight was 13 Vermeer paintings - each mobbed by a scrum of fans - retaining all their unreachable calm.
Caravaggio: the Final Years (National Gallery, 2005)
An awesome insight into the original outlaw artist, in work made while on the run from a murder charge.
Steve McQueen: Queen and Country (Art Fund, touring from 2004)
Brought home the indelible reality of Blair's war in Iraq, at a time when no one seemed to be looking.
Terracotta Army (British Museum, 2007)
An unforgettable, and timely, glimpse of the birth of Chinese power.
Louise Bourgeois (Tate Modern, 2007)
A lifetime woven with unfailing vision.
Peter Doig (Tate Britain, 2008)
Entrancing alienation from the most affecting painter of his generation.
Matisse-Picasso (Tate Modern, 2002)
Whose side were you on? The old sparring partners in the ultimate rematch.
Mark Wallinger: State Britain (Tate Britain, 2007)
The Parliament Square peace protest brought in, pointedly, from the cold.
Gregor Schneider: Die Familie Schneider (Artangel, 2004)
Deeply unnerving secrets from behind the net curtains of twin houses in the East End.
Olafur Eliasson: the Weather Project (Tate Modern, 2003)
He made Waterloo-sunset worshippers of us all, for an afternoon or three.
