A wonderful little Cezanne nowadays belongs to Jasper Johns which makes me think that life is

A wonderful little Cezanne nowadays belongs to Jasper Johns, which makes me think that life is unfair. There are two good Gauguins and an ugly, mad Van Gogh which you wouldn't have thought would fit with Degas's taste.! 'Degas: Beyond Impressionism': National Gallery, WC2 (0171 747 2885), to 26 Aug; pounds 5 (pounds 3 concessions).. The funniest slogan in Pere Lachaise was scratched on the wall of a vault near the entrance: "Tom Cruise should not play Jim." It was 1990, and fans of the Doors were worried about Oliver Stone's proposed biopic. Where else to register their concern but in the Parisian cemetery where Jim Morrison, the band's lead singer, is buried? A year later, someone had inscribed the relieved postscript: "He didn't." For people whose respect for their hero's memory runs so deep that they could not bear to see a toothy actor pretending to be him in a film, they don't have many qualms about vandalising his gravestone, nor those of the unfortunates interred nearby. Pilgrims from all over the world use chalks, pens and knives to leave their mark in a dozen languages. Common choices include "Jim is Alive" (if so, why are you here?) and appropriate Morrison lyrics: "Cancel my subscription to the resurrection." "This is the end, beautiful friend." Crazed Doors fans excepted, Pere Lachaise is a fascinating and serene place to have a stroll.

Founded by Napoleon in 1804, it is a 40-hectare maze of cobbled, leafy pathways that run between rows of ornate mausolea. These are the great Delacroix portraits of Louis-Auguste Schwiter, Manet's Execution of Maximilian and three perfect paintings by Ingres. These pastels, related paintings too, came to have an unorthodox, pessimistic air. If we did not know Degas's earlier work so well they would strike any observer as weird. As it is, we are disturbed even though we recognise their origins.

So it often is when we look at anyone's old age, artist or not.Upstairs in the Sunley Room (admission free), there's an exhibition of works from Degas's collection. At first it looks miscellaneous; then the display quickly makes sense when you think of the second floor of the artist's house and read the informative introduction by Anne Dumas. It must be said that the most dramatic works we already know, for they found their way to the National Gallery's permanent collection many years ago. As we know, pastel can easily be too sweet and when used with any vehemence can just as easily become harsh Degas always knew how to avoid these dangers. Now he could heat pastel colour dangerously high or give it a sombre, brooding look with his most mature use of charcoal.