The artist’s frescoes hold many lessons for the cardinals who have to decide upon the next pope

It must be hard for the College of Cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel not to gawp at Michelangelo’s frescoes when they should be thinking only of electing a new pope. The only flaw in Robert Harris’s brilliant novel of clerical politics Conclave is that, as they scheme, none of the prelates seem bothered about the ceiling Michelangelo painted with scenes from Genesis between 1508 and 1512 or the Last Judgment he painted on the altar wall much later, from 1536 to 1541 – let alone the earlier paintings by Botticelli and others on the side walls.

When a bomb blows in a window in last year’s award-winning film of the book, the conclave carries on without even pausing for restorers to check the damage. As if.

Van Gogh’s favourite Japanese artist is at the British Museum, Lisa Milroy’s memories of Canada are on show in London, and new thresholds are crossed by Do Ho Suh – all in your weekly dispatch

Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road
It’s not hard to see why Hiroshige was Van Gogh’s favourite Japanese printmaker – his colours have a radiant intensity almost without equal in art.
• British Museum, London, from 1 May until 7 September

Holy balls of wool! From pointless paintings to emotionless snapshots, the once-controversial award tiptoes too earnestly across the minefield of today’s culture wars

Remember when controversy was fun? If not, that’s because you’re too young. But back in the 1990s, my child, Britain got itself in hilarious knots about conceptual art, the readymade and whether a pickled shark or elephant dung can be art, with the Turner prize as battleground. It was a culture war but with laughs, because no one’s identity was at stake and it wasn’t like Brian Sewell was going to become prime minister and have Rachel Whiteread jailed.

It is by embracing the earnestness of today’s high-stakes culture wars that the Turner prize has lost its edge, the art getting more careful as the ideologies loom larger. This year’s shortlist is the soppiest yet. Two of the artists nominated are painters. Painters, I ask you! This makes some sense of the shortlist announcement taking place on JMW Turner’s 250th birthday. But as painters go, do Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa (who also creates bland installations) compare with the boldness of Mr Turner? Neither is pushing back the boundaries of what a painting might be, or redefining this art for the 21st century in scale, freedom, audacity.