Visual Arts

Make your art better with this highly trained AI named Vincent

Watch This AI Turn Sketches into Masterpieces

Trained on the 'history of human art,' this system can transform your scribbles

So Is 'Mona Lisa' Smiling? A New Study Says Yes

Compared to other similar images, the masterpiece's mouth registered as happy to almost 100 percent of the participants

Ace Harlyn (active ca. 1930–40), Charlie Wagner tattooing Millie Hull, 1939, oil on canvas

Tattooing Was Illegal in New York City Until 1997

The New-York Historical Society's newest exhibit delves into the history of the city's once-turbulent ink scene

Iggy Pop Life Class by Jeremy Deller

Iggy Pop Bares More Than Abs in New Art Exhibition About Masculinity

Punk meets pencil in an art show that examines the portrayal of masculinity throughout the centuries

The faces of A Peace of My Mind.

A Photographer's 40,000-Mile Journey to Find What Peace Means to Americans

John Noltner has driven across the country in an effort to document the many definitions of peace

Director Guillermo del Toro Shares the Monsters in His Closet With the Public

The filmmaker talks about artifacts from his collection that are featured in the LACMA's new exhibition, <i>At Home with Monsters</i>

Images are fast outpacing words as the major means of communication.

How to Avoid the Pitfalls in the Politics of Graphic Messaging

The director of the National Portrait Gallery offers a few pointers on how to acquire visual intelligence

"Meditation and Minou," 1980, by Will Barnet.

The Worcester Art Museum’s New Exhibit Is All Cats, All the Time

New art exhibit will trace humans' captivation with cats throughout history

Here’s Every Nuclear Detonation Ever

Watch all 2,153 nuclear detonations since 1945 in this bleak visualization

A shadowy scene from F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922).

Someone Stole the Skull of ‘Nosferatu’ Director F.W. Murnau

Thieves left behind traces of wax, suggesting occult practices might be at play here

Photographer Joseph Michael explored the 30-million-year old limestone caves of New Zealand's North Island, a favored spot for glowworms, to create these dazzling long-exposure shots.

Captivating Long-Exposure Photos of New Zealand’s Glowworm Caves

These new shots show the otherworldly magic created by a carnivorous fungus gnat

"Out of Many, One" by Jorge Rodrígues-Gerada on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Want to See the New Massive Portrait on the National Mall? Go Up

The project, made of soil and sand, will cover five acres between the Lincoln Memorial and World War II Memorial

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Watch How Jim Henson Animated Jazz With Tiny, Dancing Strips of Paper

Jim Henson had a soft spot for jazz

The Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership is a 1,200-pound aluminum stage prop that once stole the show at funk singer George Clinton's concerts. Now, it's a part of the Smithsonian's permanent collections.

Watch George Clinton's P-Funk Mothership Get Reassembled For Its Museum Debut

A timelapse video shows Smithsonian curators rebuilding one of music's most iconic stage props—the Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership

Should We Use Body Painting to Teach Anatomy?

Artist Danny Quirk's paintings on the skin of willing friends show in textbook-like detail the muscle, bone and tissue that lie underneath

Do Our Brains Find Certain Shapes More Attractive Than Others?

A new exhibition in Washington, D.C., claims that humans have an affinity for curves—and there is scientific data to prove it

Mood: experimental. Desired quality: active.

These Abstract Portraits Were Painted By An Artificial Intelligence Program

The Painting Fool, a computer program, can create portraits based on its mood, assess its work and learn from its mistakes

A New App Turns Fractals Into Ornate Art

With Frax, users can create mathematically-driven art, adding color, depth and texture to geometric shapes

Horseshoe crab

Animal Specimens, From Fish to Birds to Mammals, Get Inked

Inspired by Japanese fish rubbings, two University of Texas biologists make spectacular prints of a variety of species at different stages of decay

Jonah is cast overboard to a sea monster in an image from the earliest known atlas, the Theatrum orbis terrarum, by Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, first published in 1570.

The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps

Fictitious animals on 16th and early 17th century maps hint at how people's perception of the ocean has changed over time

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