This week, Erin sits down with Verity Babbs, the art historian, comedian and presenter whose signature mix of sharp insight and absolute silliness has made her one of the most inviting voices in the art world. Verity has just released her new book, The History of Art in One Sentence, born from her viral social series where she answers big art-history questions in small, funny, brilliantly clear bursts.

In this episode, Verity talks through the five artworks she would dream of owning, revealing the stories, relationships and personal memories that sit behind each choice. From the glowing theatricality of Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World at Keble College (complete with its iconic chapel light-switch moment), to the sensual, intertwined lives of the Bloomsbury Group captured in Duncan Grant’s Bathers by the Pond, her picks are as much about people as they are about painting .

She also shares her love of Alfred Wallis and the purity of his late-in-life paintings, shaped by her time filming in St Ives, before jumping into the rebellious joy of spotting Invader mosaics in cities around the world. And, in true Verity fashion, her final choice takes us to the potteries of Stoke-on-Trent, where a humble Spode Christmas sample plate becomes a story about craft, community, pride and a designer who had never actually seen a Christmas tree before attempting to draw one .

Across the conversation, Verity reflects on humour as a way into art, the intimidating culture around “knowing enough”, the soft-boy energy of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, charity-shop treasure hunts, and what it really means to own an artwork in the first place.

Warm, witty and full of brilliant art-historical side quests, this is a joyful episode that captures exactly why people love Verity’s voice.

The second episode of the Excuse Me podcast by ⁠MyArtBroker⁠.

See more here: ⁠https://www.myartbroker.com/articles/excuse-me