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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Frida Kahlo photographed with Diego Rivera and Malu Block.

Cool Finds

This May Be the Only Known Recording of Frida Kahlo’s Voice

The sound of the speaker on recording, which was found earlier this year, has been described as ‘sweet, delicate, very feminine’

Hans Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves convinced Henry VIII of his bride-to-be's charms

Historian’s New Novel Raises Controversial Theory: Henry VIII Divorced Anne of Cleves Because She’d Already Given Birth

Alison Weir acknowledges the claim, which pulls on previously unexplored evidence, is “inconclusive and speculative” but says it might make readers think

Otto Frank pictured holding a copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank"

Letters Written by Anne Frank’s Father, Otto, Will Be Digitized to Mark Diarist’s 90th Birthday

The notes stem from a 1970s pen pal correspondence between Otto and a young artist named Ryan Cooper

An activist holds up a rainbow flag inside Botswana's High Court to celebrate Tuesday's landmark ruling.

In Landmark Ruling, Botswana Strikes Down Colonial-Era Law Criminalizing Homosexuality

‘A democratic society is one that embraces tolerance, diversity and open-mindedness,’ Justice Michael Leburu said of the ruling

Firefighters work to stop the blaze that broke out the backlot at Universal in 2008.

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

Universal Music Group Claimed No Master Recording Burned in 2008 Blaze. New Report Estimates Hundreds of Thousands Did

Explosive allegations in The New York Times Magazine claim 500,000 one-of-a-kind master recordings were destroyed in Universal Fire

A woman looks at wreckage of trucks in the ghost city of Pripyat during a tour in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on June 7, 2019.

HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ Miniseries Is Driving Tourists to the Nuclear Disaster Site

Chernobyl tourist agencies have reportedly experienced a 30 to 40 percent jump in bookings since the show’s premiere

Detail of the roof in the central nave of la Sagrada Familia. The columns are designed to invoke trees and branches.

137 Years After Construction Began, La Sagrada Familia Receives Building Permit

The church’s trustees hope to complete construction by 2026, the centenary of architect Antoni Gaudi’s death

Ali Stroker at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards

Ali Stroker Makes History, and More From the Tony Awards

The actress becomes the first wheelchair user ever to take home the coveted prize at the 73rd annual award show

A German Circus Uses Stunning Holograms Instead of Live Animal Performers

Circus Roncalli is preserving the tradition of animal acts while eliminating concerns of animal cruelty

Researchers extracted paint and canvas fiber samples from a known forgery supposedly dating to 1886 but actually created during the 1980s.

Art Meets Science

Cold War Nuclear Bomb Tests Are Helping Researchers Identify Art Forgeries

Traces of carbon-14 isotopes released by nuclear testing enable scientists to date paintings created post-World War II

This is not King Leopold II.

Cool Finds

Museumgoer Spots a Misidentified Portrait of Rodin

A Spanish graphic designer recognized his art hero in a portrait at Madrid’s Lázaro Galdiano museum labeled as the notorious King Leopold II of Belgium

Simone Leigh's "Brick House" is the Plinth's first artistic commission

The High Line’s Art-Centric Final Section Is Officially Open

Dubbed the Spur, the space will feature a rotating series of contemporary art commissions

The experience unfolds across five rooms: the Recycle Bank, the Coral Tunnel, the Net Guard, the Jellyfish Station and the Bubble Mall.

Art Meets Science

A New Pop-Up Exhibit in NYC Immerses Visitors in a Deep-Sea Experience

Designer Randy Fernando says the show strives to be “interactive and playful,” while also “incorporating touches of activism”

New Research

New Study Suggests Leonardo da Vinci Had A.D.H.D.

The master painter had difficulties with procrastination, finishing projects and staying on task his entire life

Claude Monet [1840-1926], Wisteria, 1917-1920

Hidden Water Lily Found Beneath Monet Painting

The artist may have covered up the artwork while experimenting with a new floral subject: wisteria

The warder is the first of five missing pieces to materialize since the remaining chessmen’s discovery in 1831

Cool Finds

A Medieval Chess Piece Potentially Worth $1.2 Million Languished in a Drawer for Decades

The Lewis warder, part of a larger trove of 12th-century ivory chessmen, was purchased for £5 in 1964

The small, rocky island of St. Michael's Mount is off the coast of Cornwall, England.

Calling All Green Thumbs! A Legendary British Island Is Looking to Hire a Resident Gardener

Applicants will need to be comfortable with rappelling down the battlements of a historic castle

From L to R: Kanlitas rock painting, enhanced version, isolated rendering of markings

Art Meets Science

Rock Art and Footprints Reveal How Ancient Humans Responded to Volcanic Eruption

New study dates the preserved footprints to 4,700 years ago, a full 245,000 years later than previously suggested

From left to right: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Jane Vercaine, Barbara Deming, Kady Vandeurs, Carol Grosberg and others lead a protest at City Hall

Women Who Shaped History

New York City Monument Will Honor Transgender Activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

The two women were instrumental in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and spent their lives advocating for marginalized groups

London’s National Gallery Lends a $4.5 Million Masterpiece to a Women’s Prison

It was the latest stop in an unconventional tour that has brought the Artemisia Gentileschi painting to a school, a library and a doctor’s office

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