A Bright Spot in van Gogh’s Starry Night

Author of Old Masters, New World Cynthia Saltzman

Q&A: Cynthia Saltzman

The author of Old Masters, New World discusses how 19th century American collectors acquired European masterpieces

The Tragedy of Lucretia, Sandro Botticelli, ca. 1500-1501

Botticelli Comes Ashore

With the purchase of Botticelli’s Death of Lucretia, Isabella Stewart Gardner took American collecting in a new direction

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A Sculpture’s Crash Landing at the Royal Academy

A tribal birth in India

Be a Smithsonian Winner

The 6th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest closes Dec. 1. Submit your best snapshots for consideration now

Isidre Nonell, La Paloma, 1904

Learning More About Spanish Modernism

tomato stacks

Tomato Recipes

Chef Craig Von Foerster of Sierra Mar Restaurant at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, California shares two of his favorite tomato recipes

Rick Perlstein

Rick Perlstein on “Parties to History”

Alonzo Hamby.

Alonzo Hamby on “Parties to History”

Lewis L. Gould

Lewis L. Gould on “Parties to History”

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Kenneth R. Fletcher on “The Beach”

Arthur Allen

Arthur Allen on “A Passion for Tomatoes”

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More With Richard Misrach

The Photographer explains how a series of beach pictures were inspired by the events of September 11

Richard Misrach, Untitled 1132-04, 2004-Misrach says he began to notice how “people group up and leave a sort of comfortable space around them—something that maybe would only be revealed when you stand back to see it.”

Richard Misrach’s Ominous Beach Photographs

A new exhibition of oversized photographs by Richard Misrach invites viewers to have fun in the sun. Or does it?

Follow the "Guests of the Hills" opening August 23 at the Freer Gallery.

What’s Up

Smithsonian exhibitions highlight the secrets of soil, lavish interiors and Chinese landscape paintings

"Minnesota's" vasectomy was reversed due to his species becoming nearly extinct.

Making History

Role Reversal

Avant-garde performance artist and pop icon Laurie Anderson.

Laurie Anderson

The celebrated performance artist discusses Andy Warhol, NASA and her work at McDonald’s

Channing (as Lorelei Lee, 1974) recalls taking her first bow in a dress encrusted with 40 pounds of bling: “I fell over forward and almost broke my teeth.”

All That Glitters

Carol Channing can’t forget the night her gown got ransomed

U. Utah Phillips was known for his blend of song and storytelling.

Jukebox: Dogged Underdog

Biographer Wade Davis says Schultes approached photography with the "same precision as he did botany."

Photo Find

With a rolleiflex camera, a pioneering botanist documented his fieldwork—and created art

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