Go deep into Freud, follow Gwen John and watch Giacometti melt

Exhibition of the week: Lucian Freud: Drawing Into Painting offers a close study of the artist’s portrait process, tracing work from paper to canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London, from 12 February to 4 May. Also showing: Gwen John: Strange Beauties returns one of early 20th-century Britain’s most original artists to her native Wales at the National Museum Cardiff, from 7 February to 28 June.

Lynda Benglis and Giacometti pair the artist known for floppy, molten slumping works with the sculptor’s presence at the Barbican, London, from 12 February to 31 May. Further highlights include expressive paintings by Vincent Hawkins at the Tracey Emin Foundation, Margate, from 7 February to 29 March, and Origin Stories, a history of Scottish art schools at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until 8 March.

Image of the week: the artist Charmaine Watkiss has explored botanical links between the Caribbean, the UK and the African continent in the context of the transatlantic slave trade.

United Kingdom, London, Cardiff, Margate, Edinburgh

lucian freud, gwen john, giacometti, lynda benglis, charmaine watkiss, portrait gallery, national museum, barbican, tracey emin, scottish academy