Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin "It has just been announced that Matthew Girling is the new Global CEO of Bonhams. This prompted a rejig of our latest issue so that we could interview Matthew, the only CEO of a major auction house to take sales as an auctioneer. On page 14, amongst other things, he talks about how exciting it is when specialists guide someone new to a particular collecting area and turn the buyer into a connoisseur.

It led me to think about the notion of inspiring figures and how an individual's 'lightbulb moment' can transform an idea, a theory, a piece of art. Let's look no further than Charles Darwin. It's now acknowledged that the naturalist drew on the theories of others in his field, yet it was his popularisation of the now famous phrase 'survival of the fittest' that catapulted him into the pantheon of great thinkers. And while we are on the subject of pantheons, how did religion – specifically, Christianity – sit with his discoveries?

A fascinating letter outlining Darwin's views on God is on offer in New York's History of Science Sale. On page 22, the celebrated writer A.N. Wilson studies its importance. Darwin had most of his major ideas while on a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle, serving as the ship's naturalist. Paul Klee was similarly struck while on a visit to Tunisia in 1914. After experiencing a completely different type of light from that of Northern Europe, his views on colour were radically and irreversibly changed; a revelation that affected all his subsequent paintings. Martin Gayford examines the impact of this and discusses a work in New York's Impressionist Art sale in November, on page 50.

Another artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, creates 'explosion events', using gunpowder as if graphite to scorch the surface of his 'drawings'. This technique combines the ancient Chinese arts of both firework-making and calligraphy – and once again, it is this inspiring fusion of ideas that produces such striking work, an example of which is offered in Hong Kong's Contemporary Art Sale in October.

The film director Richard Attenborough took ideas and transformed these into art. An array of his film memorabilia – to be sold, with his collection of modern art at Bonhams Knightsbridge – gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the work of one of the greats. Finally, the word inspiration, as you know, originates in the notion of breathing in. We hope that there are works in the magazine that provoke similar gasps of excitement. Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin "It has just been announced that Matthew Girling is the new Global CEO of Bonhams. This prompted a rejig of our latest issue so that we could interview Matthew, the only CEO of a major auction house to take sales as an auctioneer. On page 14, amongst other things, he talks about how exciting it is when specialists guide someone new to a particular collecting area and turn the buyer into a connoisseur.

It led me to think about the notion of inspiring figures and how an individual's 'lightbulb moment' can transform an idea, a theory, a piece of art. Let's look no further than Charles Darwin. It's now acknowledged that the naturalist drew on the theories of others in his field, yet it was his popularisation of the now famous phrase 'survival of the fittest' that catapulted him into the pantheon of great thinkers. And while we are on the subject of pantheons, how did religion – specifically, Christianity – sit with his discoveries?

A fascinating letter outlining Darwin's views on God is on offer in New York's History of Science Sale. On page 22, the celebrated writer A.N. Wilson studies its importance. Darwin had most of his major ideas while on a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle, serving as the ship's naturalist. Paul Klee was similarly struck while on a visit to Tunisia in 1914. After experiencing a completely different type of light from that of Northern Europe, his views on colour were radically and irreversibly changed; a revelation that affected all his subsequent paintings. Martin Gayford examines the impact of this and discusses a work in New York's Impressionist Art sale in November, on page 50.

Another artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, creates 'explosion events', using gunpowder as if graphite to scorch the surface of his 'drawings'. This technique combines the ancient Chinese arts of both firework-making and calligraphy – and once again, it is this inspiring fusion of ideas that produces such striking work, an example of which is offered in Hong Kong's Contemporary Art Sale in October.

The film director Richard Attenborough took ideas and transformed these into art. An array of his film memorabilia – to be sold, with his collection of modern art at Bonhams Knightsbridge – gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the work of one of the greats. Finally, the word inspiration, as you know, originates in the notion of breathing in. We hope that there are works in the magazine that provoke similar gasps of excitement. Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin "It has just been announced that Matthew Girling is the new Global CEO of Bonhams. This prompted a rejig of our latest issue so that we could interview Matthew, the only CEO of a major auction house to take sales as an auctioneer. On page 14, amongst other things, he talks about how exciting it is when specialists guide someone new to a particular collecting area and turn the buyer into a connoisseur.

It led me to think about the notion of inspiring figures and how an individual's 'lightbulb moment' can transform an idea, a theory, a piece of art. Let's look no further than Charles Darwin. It's now acknowledged that the naturalist drew on the theories of others in his field, yet it was his popularisation of the now famous phrase 'survival of the fittest' that catapulted him into the pantheon of great thinkers. And while we are on the subject of pantheons, how did religion – specifically, Christianity – sit with his discoveries?

A fascinating letter outlining Darwin's views on God is on offer in New York's History of Science Sale. On page 22, the celebrated writer A.N. Wilson studies its importance. Darwin had most of his major ideas while on a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle, serving as the ship's naturalist. Paul Klee was similarly struck while on a visit to Tunisia in 1914. After experiencing a completely different type of light from that of Northern Europe, his views on colour were radically and irreversibly changed; a revelation that affected all his subsequent paintings. Martin Gayford examines the impact of this and discusses a work in New York's Impressionist Art sale in November, on page 50.

Another artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, creates 'explosion events', using gunpowder as if graphite to scorch the surface of his 'drawings'. This technique combines the ancient Chinese arts of both firework-making and calligraphy – and once again, it is this inspiring fusion of ideas that produces such striking work, an example of which is offered in Hong Kong's Contemporary Art Sale in October.

The film director Richard Attenborough took ideas and transformed these into art. An array of his film memorabilia – to be sold, with his collection of modern art at Bonhams Knightsbridge – gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the work of one of the greats. Finally, the word inspiration, as you know, originates in the notion of breathing in. We hope that there are works in the magazine that provoke similar gasps of excitement. Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin "It has just been announced that Matthew Girling is the new Global CEO of Bonhams. This prompted a rejig of our latest issue so that we could interview Matthew, the only CEO of a major auction house to take sales as an auctioneer. On page 14, amongst other things, he talks about how exciting it is when specialists guide someone new to a particular collecting area and turn the buyer into a connoisseur.

It led me to think about the notion of inspiring figures and how an individual's 'lightbulb moment' can transform an idea, a theory, a piece of art. Let's look no further than Charles Darwin. It's now acknowledged that the naturalist drew on the theories of others in his field, yet it was his popularisation of the now famous phrase 'survival of the fittest' that catapulted him into the pantheon of great thinkers. And while we are on the subject of pantheons, how did religion – specifically, Christianity – sit with his discoveries?

A fascinating letter outlining Darwin's views on God is on offer in New York's History of Science Sale. On page 22, the celebrated writer A.N. Wilson studies its importance. Darwin had most of his major ideas while on a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle, serving as the ship's naturalist. Paul Klee was similarly struck while on a visit to Tunisia in 1914. After experiencing a completely different type of light from that of Northern Europe, his views on colour were radically and irreversibly changed; a revelation that affected all his subsequent paintings. Martin Gayford examines the impact of this and discusses a work in New York's Impressionist Art sale in November, on page 50.

Another artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, creates 'explosion events', using gunpowder as if graphite to scorch the surface of his 'drawings'. This technique combines the ancient Chinese arts of both firework-making and calligraphy – and once again, it is this inspiring fusion of ideas that produces such striking work, an example of which is offered in Hong Kong's Contemporary Art Sale in October.

The film director Richard Attenborough took ideas and transformed these into art. An array of his film memorabilia – to be sold, with his collection of modern art at Bonhams Knightsbridge – gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the work of one of the greats. Finally, the word inspiration, as you know, originates in the notion of breathing in. We hope that there are works in the magazine that provoke similar gasps of excitement. Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin