Money Talks: Art, Society and Power – a 'fascinating' show

Ashmolean exhibition cashes in on the lure of money with a dress stitched with banknotes and Banksy's iconic 'Di-Faced Tenner'

Bust of Edward VIII for gold pattern for £5, £2 and sovereign, 1937 Royal Mint Museum
An 'enthralling' sequence explores how art is transformed into coins and banknotes
(Image credit: Ashmolean Museum / Royal Mint Museum)

The "serpentine flash of a dollar sign" in Andy Warhol's striking canvas is the perfect opening to an exhibition that explores money through art. 

"Money Talks: Art, Society and Power" at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford delves deep into this complex relationship; "money, after all, is in itself both an image and an object", said Laura Cumming in The Observer.

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Elsewhere, it's interesting to see how Elizabeth II is portrayed differently on banknotes from several Commonwealth countries: she appears "fatter, thinner, older, eyes more sunken or lowered" depending on the country.

Other highlights include Rembrandt's etching "The Goldweigher", with his "fatly bagged coins"; Banksy's "Di-Faced Tenner", in which he replaced the head of Elizabeth II with Princess Diana; and Susan Stockwell's "dramatic" Victorian-style "Money Dress" stitched from banknotes.

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.