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Arts & Culture

Through the elliptical opening of its East Portal visitors will see the sky in a new way.

James Turrell’s Light Fantastic

The innovative artist has devoted his life to transforming

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Into the Breach

David Douglas Duncan’s Life photographs captured the courage and anguish of marines in Korea, bringing home the gravity of war

"Hitch your wagon to a star," wrote Emerson, whose Concord, Massachusetts, residence (c. 1900) is now a museum, Emerson House.

Still Ahead of His Time

Born 200 years ago this month, Ralph Waldo Emerson had some strange ideas about the natural world. Recent research suggests they might even be true

"People often use the word tedious to describe my work," says Breitman, "but I find it meditative." Maple was based on family photographs.

Fabricating Art

Laura Breitman fashions photo-realist collages out of whole cloth

The Dance Class (La Classe de Danse), 1873–1876, oil on canvas, by Edgar Degas

Degas and His Dancers

A major exhibition and a new ballet bring the renowned artist’s obsession with dance center stage

Maya Angelou by Ross Rossin, 2013.

Growing Up Maya Angelou

The famed writer discusses her childhood, her writing and the importance of family

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Manhattan Bound

A new book of photographs by octogenarian Helen Levitt charts her amused view of an ever-evolving New York

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Journal of the Plague Years

Two courageous pioneers showed how a fearsome scourge could be defeated

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Mischief Maker

A new exhibit showcases the neglected, playful sculptures of artist Joan Miró

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Machine Dreams

A new exhibition reconsiders the industrial photographs of Margaret Bourke-White’s early, “rapturous” period

Minnie Pearl 1965

How-deeeee!

Homely country togs defined a beloved Grand Ole Opry stalwart

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The Big Picture

Our photographic collections showcase the world from the seafloor to the stars above

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Henry Kissinger on Vietnam

Henry Kissinger’s new book revisits America’s troubled extrication from Indochina

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Once Upon a Time

Children’s books by celebrities are as old as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here are our favorites

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Matisse & Picasso

As a new exhibition makes clear, these friends and rivals spurred each other to change the course of 20th-century art

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Grim and Beautiful

Learning to love complexity

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