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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Dolly Parton, shown here in 2014, has been a country music legend for decades.

Goodbye, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Hello, Dolly?

A Tennessee Republican has proposed replacing a bust of the Confederate general with a tribute to the iconic country star

The petite creation measures 10 micrometers long, or roughly a tenth of the diameter of the average human hair.

This Microscopic ‘Gingerbread’ House Is Smaller Than a Human Hair

Although it doesn’t taste great, the silicon house highlights the capabilities of electron microscopy

It's hard enough to talk about our feelings. Now, try doing it across languages.

The Meanings Behind Words for Emotions Aren’t Universal, Study Finds

Certain emotions may be universal. But the way humans describe their feelings, it seems, is not

X-ray analysis revealed a hidden landscape depicting the birth of Christ.

Cool Finds

Nativity Scene Discovered Beneath 16th-Century Painting of John the Baptist’s Beheading

Experts hope further examination will yield insights on the canvas’ age, background and history

On Christmas Eve 1869, a bird-related incident ruffled Charles Dickens' feathers.

Charles Dickens Lost His Last Christmas Turkey to a Freak Fire

A rediscovered letter reveals the famed author forgave the railway company that botched his holiday delivery

Kent Monkman, a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry, poses with one of his large-scale history paintings, The Scream.

At the Met, Two New Monumental Paintings Foreground the Indigenous Experience

Cree artist Kent Monkman borrows from European artists while reframing problematic narratives about indigenous people

"Raphael in Berlin" at the Gemäldegalerie

Raphael’s Madonnas Come Together in Berlin Exhibition

Seven artworks on display at the Gemäldegalerie museum highlight the unique sensibilities Raphael brought to an iconic devotional scene

Mrs. Maisel's pink wool house coat and peignoir nightgown, worn in the pilot episode, and black dress, worn in the season one finale

Two Dresses From ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Are Coming to the Smithsonian

Though plans aren’t finalized, the costumes might feature in the National Museum of American History’s upcoming “Entertaining America” exhibition

Nature Morte, Pablo Picasso, 1921

This Picasso Could Be Yours for Just Over $100

A charity raffle is selling the 1921 painting “Nature Morte” for a bonafide bargain

A 1997 photograph submitted by Andrea Ekins

See 150 Years of Stonehenge Family Photos

The collection offers a glimpse into humans’ engagement with the monument

The blue monkey fresco at Akrotiri, an ancient settlement on the Aegean island of Thera, or modern-day Santorini

Cool Finds

Painted Bronze Age Monkeys Hint at the Interconnectedness of the Ancient World

The fascinating “tail” of how Indian monkeys might have ended up in a Minoan painting

The Wedding Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

Art Meets Science

Detroit Exhibit Celebrates Bruegel’s ‘The Wedding Dance’ and Its Controversial Codpieces

The painting’s frank depiction of drunk frivolity—and male anatomy—didn’t sit well with some viewers

Trending Today

Someone Is Gluing Cowboy Hats to Las Vegas’ Pigeons

Experts say the birds look perfectly safe—and ‘cute,’ of course

Popular lore posits that Jimi Hendrix, or perhaps the crew of classic Hollywood film The African Queen, released the invasive species in the U.K., but a new study suggests otherwise.

Contrary to Popular Legend, Jimi Hendrix Did Not Introduce an Invasive Parakeet to the U.K.

A new study debunks several colorful theories about how ring-necked parakeets became the most abundant naturalized parrot across the pond

The Elgin cast, seen on right, reveals sculptural details lost today.

New Research

3-D Imaging Reveals Toll of Parthenon Marbles’ Deterioration

A new study of 19th-century plaster casts of the controversial sculptures highlight details lost over the past 200 years

El Quitasol (The Parasol) by Francisco del Goya, digitally doctored into a scene that portrays the consequences of climate change

Art Meets Science

See Four Spanish Masterpieces Updated to Reflect the Consequences of Climate Change

Timed to coincide with the ongoing U.N. Climate Change Conference, the campaign is a digital effort to warn the world

Classic Blue is a deep shade “suggestive of the sky at dusk,” “solid and dependable,” and a “restful color,” according to Pantone.

Trending Today

Pantone’s Color of the Year Is ‘Solid and Dependable’ Classic Blue

Some have decried the selection as dull, but Pantone prefers to frame it as “a timeless and enduring hue”

Photographer Charles Marville captured this snapshot of an open-air urinal with three stalls in 1865.

How Paris’ Open-Air Urinals Changed a City—and Helped Dismantle the Nazi Regime

During World War II, the stalls served as rendezvous points for French Resistance fighters

Among the items stolen from Berlin's Stasi Museum are a pair of earrings, a ring laden with pearls and gems, a gold watch, and a gold timepiece.

Days After the Brazen Green Vault Heist, Another German Museum Is Targeted by Thieves

Burglars stole jewelry and historic artifacts from the Stasi Museum in Berlin

Some soldiers (although not necessarily the ones pictured here) dyed their lighter locks to avoid appearing washed out in photographs.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Hair Dye Bottles Used by Self-Conscious Civil War Soldiers Posing for Portraits

Hair-do it for the gram

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