Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts & Culture

None

Sharks Made Out of Golf Bags? A Look at the Big Fish in Contemporary Art

Intrigued by the powerful hunters, artists have made tiger sharks, great whites and hammerheads the subjects of sculpture

This very bottle of beer lies in a shallow grave of redwood duff in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, in northern California. Can you find it?

Find The Beer: A Trail of Stashed Bottles From Alaska to California

Traveling the West Coast? Like beer? Then consider pulling over at these highway locations from Alaska to California and finding the bottles of beer

None

Landscape Through a Car Window, Darkly

A new exhibition presents 1970s photography that challenged the traditional American landscape

Bacterial Dragon (Paenibacillus dendritiformis), by Eshel Ben-Jacob

Colonies of Growing Bacteria Make Psychedelic Art

Israeli physicist Eshel Ben-Jacob uses bacteria as an art medium, shaping colonies in petri dishes into bold patterns

None

The Secret to National Geographic’s Maps Is an 80-Year-Old Font

With a little ingenuity, a 1930s cartographer left his mark on the society

Pete Seeger performs at a peace rally in New York City, 1965.

Give Peace a Listen with Smithsonian Folkways Magazine

The new issue covers peace songs and spoken word from around the world

None

What Caused the Death of American Brewing?

American breweries are back on the rise, after a near century long decline almost spelled their doom

Still from trailer for It movie, an adaption of the Stephen King novel

The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary

You aren’t alone in your fear of makeup-clad entertainers; people have been frightened by clowns for centuries

None

The Science of Champagne, the Bubbling Wine Created By Accident

There’s a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to the spirit’s trademark fizziness

None

Would You Like Arches With That? When Famous Architects Design McDonalds

Franchises of the fast food behemoth become roadside art

None

Your Guide to Tasting the Many Species of Pacific Salmon

From dogs to humpies to kings, the author tastes and discusses the five main species of Pacific salmon

None

Toxic Runoff Yellow and Other Paint Colors Sourced From Polluted Streams

An engineer and an artist at Ohio University team up to create paints made of sludge extracted from streams near abandoned coal mines

None

The Golden Arches of McModernism

A brief history of the McDonald’s Golden Arches and the influence of Modernist ideals

None

Sorry, Wolfgang, Fusion Foods Have Been With Us for Centuries

The banh mi, ramen and other foods considered national dishes that actually have cross-cultural beginnings

None

Ten Years of Flying High with Air and Space Art

The Air and Space Museum showcases the art of air and space. Check out photos of some of the works here

This bronze portrait bust of German composer Richard Wagner, sculptured by artist Arno Breker, resides in Bayreuth, Germany, home of the annual festival honoring his work.

The Brilliant, Troubled Legacy of Richard Wagner

As the faithful flock to the Bayreuth Festival in his bicentennial year, the spellbinding German composer continues to fascinate, inspire and infuriate

None

Nobel Prize Winners Are Put to the Task of Drawing Their Discoveries

Volker Steger photographs Nobel laureates posing with sketches of their breakthrough findings

None

The Macabre Beauty of Medical Photographs

An artist-scientist duo shares nearly 100 images of modern art with a ghastly twist—they’re all close-ups of human diseases and other ailments

None

The Story of the First Postage Stamp

Postage stamps can reveal more than the history of a letter, they can reveal the history of a nation

None

Hangovers: The Driving Force Behind Our Favorite Foods

Overimbibing makes some people’s brains shut down, for others, it gets the innovative juices flowing

Page 206 of 370