Celts – Art and Identity review: an unintentional resurrection | Jonathan Jones

British Museum exhibition seems intended to bury the Celts but ends up reviving them in all their misty splendour

Celts – Art and Identity is a great exhibition that achieves the opposite of what it intends. In wall texts and a richly detailed catalogue it sets out a sceptical approach to the ancient peoples of north-western Europe. Celts, we’re told, never called themselves Celts and modern constructions of a genetic and eternal Celtic identity – promoted by Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalists – are as insubstantial as mist on a loch.

Yet I have never seen such a stupendous display of Celtic art. There is a total disconnect between seeing the abstract swirls and golden curling torcs, tangled crosses and spiralling shield bosses that fill this exhibition so wondrously and reading the captions that insist on the absence of a single Celtic identity.

Related: Julian Cope on Celts: my wild romance

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