The 'big three' portrait exhibitions in London, the National Portrait gallery to see Paul Cezanne, the Tate Modern to see Amedeo Modigliani , and last month the Courtauld Gallery to see Chaim Soutine. Soutine's ability to convey the visceral uncertainty and complex soul of his sitters is uncanny. It's as if there is a direct access to these individuals. With Cezanne and Modigliani there is more of the artist in the way.

Paul Cezanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1918

Amadeo Modigliani, The Little Peasant, 1918

Chaim Soutine, The Little Pastry Cook from Cagnes, 1922