Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Each bison is controlled by three puppeteers, who spent days learning choreographed movements and commands. 

A Herd of 40 Life-Size Bison Puppets Will Stampede Through New York This Weekend to Honor Indigenous History and Resilience

The massive bovines, each maneuvered by three puppeteers, will roam through Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn

The 2,500-year-old temple, photographed in 2009

New Research

Centuries Ago, an Architect Characterized the Parthenon’s Curves as a Clever Optical Illusion. Now, a Mathematician Begs to Differ

In the first century B.C.E., Vitruvius wrote that the Acropolis’ largest temple was horizontally bowed so that it didn’t seem to sag, and that explanation persisted for millennia. New research suggests a different reason

Dilivium, a sculpture by the French artist JR, spans roughly 230 feet across the Vatican Apostolic Library’s facade. 

Pope Leo XIV Makes a Splash for His 71st Birthday, Announcing a Water-Themed Art Exhibition at the Vatican Library

Contemporary sculptures, fish made from typographic elements, centuries-old treatises and historical global cookbooks will feature in the new ‘Catastrophe and Wonder’ art show

Gertrude Abercrombie gave Alderman Merriam’s Shells to a doctor in exchange for a medical procedure in 1952. 

Bought for $30 at an Estate Sale, This Long-Lost Gertrude Abercrombie Painting Could Now Fetch $250,000

The Chicago-based Surrealist created the piece in 1951, then gave it to a doctor in exchange for medical services

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, center, with her assistants and carvers in her studio in Rome in 1867

A Rare Marble Sculpture by America’s First Professional Female Sculptor Sat Hidden in Plain Sight for Decades in an English Garden

Until its discovery during a house appraisal, the debut bust by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, a celebrated artist and feminist icon, had been mistaken for an ordinary garden ornament

Alfred Lepère’s Faune Chasseur is back on display at the Musée de Picardie, in Amiens, France.

Mysteriously Stolen More Than 30 Years Ago, and Illicitly Transported to the U.S., This 300-Pound Sculpture Is Finally Back Home in France

Alfred Lepère’s hulking “Faune Chasseur” artwork is once again on display at the Musée de Picardie, in Amiens

An 1849 painting by Adolphe Yvon depicts Dmitry Donskoy, who is widely regarded as a Russian hero, in the Battle of Kulikovo. Donskoy’s remains were discovered in Moscow in August. 

Russia Sends the Centuries-Old Remains of a Medieval Warrior Prince to Its Front Line in Ukraine, Hoping to ‘Spiritually Strengthen’ Troops

A reliquary containing part of the right hand of Dmitry Donskoy, whose crypt was discovered in August, has been dispatched to Donetsk

“If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground” is on view now through December 19.

What If Emmett Till Had Lived? A New Exhibition Imagines an Alternate Future for the Murdered Black Teenager

Featuring photographs by more than 110 artists, the show honors Till’s memory by inviting viewers to contemplate the person he might have become had he made it to adulthood

The recovered artifacts range from a newspaper clipping of 1889 theater showtimes to a typed schedule for one of Elizabeth II’s diplomatic receptions.

Renovations at Buckingham Palace Have Revealed Fascinating Artifacts Previously Lost to Time Lodged in Its Walls and Floors

The findings include a card game tournament ticket, an important newspaper clipping and the schedule for a diplomatic evening event under Elizabeth II

Art expert Ariel Bassano speaks at last year’s press conference in front of Portrait of a Lady, the 18th-century painting stolen by Nazis in 1945 and rediscovered in Argentina. A judge ruled this month that the artwork must be returned to its rightful heirs.

A Rare Nazi-Looted Painting, Lost for Some 80 Years, Turned Up in a Real Estate Listing. Now, a Judge Has Ordered It Returned to Its Rightful Heirs

Missing since it was stolen in Amsterdam in 1945, Giacomo Ceruti’s ‘Portrait of a Lady’ will be restored to its true owners, a court in Argentina has ruled in a landmark decision

MixFont's Decoy Font layers two messages on top of one another: The A.I. model reads "Sorry Robot," while the human can also read "Happy Human" behind it. 

Designers and Computer Scientists Create New Decoy Fonts That Humans Can Read but A.I. Bots Cannot

To prevent the trawling and theft of human writing, font-makers are employing both old and new illusions to outsmart large language models

For the first time in more than a century of cookie sales, Girl Scouts of the USA has launched a dedicated dog treat.

Girl Scouts of America Announces a First for Its Iconic Cookie Lineup—One Created Exclusively for Dogs

For the first time in its 109-year history of cookie sales, the organization offers a custom-made sweet treat for four-legged friends

Agatha Christie boards a train in 1922, during a ten-month trip around the world with her first husband.

The Life of Agatha Christie, the World’s Best-Selling Novelist, Goes Under the Microscope at the British Library

An upcoming London exhibition will explore the breadth of Christie’s ‘remarkable’ experiences through letters, photographs, a typewriter and a replica of her Hawaiian surfboard

The statue of a human riding a leopard was found during excavations over the summer.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Uncover a Neolithic Sculpture of a Human Riding a Leopard That’s ‘Unlike Anything We Have Encountered Before’

The artifact was found during excavations at Karahan Tepe, an 11,000-year-old site in southeastern Turkey. Created long before the invention of writing, the 2.3-foot-tall sculpture’s purpose is a mystery

The 1894-S Barber dime is considered one of the rarest American coins. 

A ‘Legendary’ 132-Year-Old Dime Recently Sold for More Than $1.2 Million at Auction. What Makes It So Extraordinary?

Only 24 of the 1894-S Barber dimes were minted in San Francisco in June 1894, and just nine known specimens exist today

The "Murder Castle" built by H.H. Holmes, who is widely regarded as America's first serial killer, was open for business during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. 

World’s Largest Collection of Serial Killer ‘Murderabilia,’ From John Wayne Gacy to H.H. Holmes, Opens in Chicago

More than 2,000 items belonging or connected to some 150 serial killers from around the globe feature in a chilling new exhibition

The Renoir Museum occupies the Impressionist's final home.

Thieves Broke Into a French Museum and Made Off With Renoir Paintings Worth More Than $2.5 Million

Early today, burglars stole four artworks from the Renoir Museum, in the French Riviera, only to drop two of them as they escaped

The treasure was found at a home in Rebild, a municipality in northern Denmark.

Cool Finds

Routine Yard Work Reveals a Trove of Viking Silver—the Largest Treasure of Its Kind Ever Discovered in Denmark

The collection includes coins, jewelry, silver bars and a tiny artifact shaped like Thor’s hammer. Experts say the roughly 700 items were buried during the tenth century

The Silver Snoopy pin, awarded to NASA astronauts and employees for "outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success."

A New York City Exhibition Celebrates Snoopy’s Enduring Influence on Art and Fashion

The beloved “Peanuts” character’s many costumes and brand collaborations are featured in a new showcase

Claude Monet's Bord des falaises à Pourville (1882) is the centerpiece of the auction, expected to sell for up to $17.4 million. 

Historic Trove of Monets, Renoirs and Other Impressionist Masterpieces Expected to Fetch Up to $50 Million on Auction Block This Fall

More than 60 paintings from the private estate of Paul Durand-Ruel, who shepherded Impressionism out from obscurity, will be up for sale

Page 1 of 293