There are five superlative art shows in London at the moment and all of them run into the new year. Frank Auerbach’s paintings at Tate Britain (tate.org.uk) prove he really is this country’s greatest living artist. Goya: The Portraits at the National Gallery (nationalgallery.org.uk) is unmissable. Here is a man who truly changed the whole direction of painting. Thanks to works by artists living under despotic regimes in eastern Europe and South America in the 1960s, The World Goes Pop at Tate Modern (tate.org.uk) reveals pop art to have been politically astute, not just a bit of baby-boomer froth. John Hoyland’s Power Station Paintings at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery (newportstreetgallery.com) provide an almost visceral experience as you walk between pictures drenched in colours that seem to glow. And The Amazing World Of MC Escher at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk) is a must for anyone with a taste for mind-boggling puzzles, supreme draughtsmanship and the bizarre. What a time to be living in the capital!