The Five Best Shows

Jackson Pollock

(Tate Gallery)

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

Portraits by Ingres (National Gallery)

Some of the most intense portraiture ever. Exquisite melanges of flesh and fabric, dreams of sex and money. To 25 Apr

Patrick Caulfield (Hayward Gallery)

The modern object-world made luminous. Caulfield is a virtuoso of many styles, and this retrospective offers the range - notably those fat, laconic outlines flooded with translucent colour. To 11 Apr

Oppe Watercolour Collection (Whitworth, Manchester)

Classic British watercolours made largely outdoors, including Alexander Cozens' sketches, Constable, John Sell Cotman and Francis Towne. To 5 Apr

Richard Deacon (Tate, Liverpool)

Chunky, curvaceous assemblages of wood, metal, and plastic by the noted sculptor. To 16 May