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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

László Krasznahorkai, seen here in Spain in 2018, won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.

This Hungarian Author Once Wrote a 400-Page Book With a Single Period. Now, László Krasznahorkai Is a Nobel Prize Winner

The 71-year-old recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature is known for his long, winding sentences

The 1863 Paris Salon rejected Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, or The Luncheon on the Grass.

Paris Museum Puts Édouard Manet on Mock Trial for Painting a Scandalous Scene of a Nude Woman

“The Luncheon on the Grass” caused a stir when it made its debut in 1863. A century and a half later, students defended the French artist against obscenity charges

Projections of portraits and quotes grace the main concourse.

A Massive Art Installation by the ‘Humans of New York’ Creator Has Taken Over Grand Central Terminal

For two weeks, “Dear New York” will grace the train station’s walls, screens and ad space

The North Wing features two William Hogarth murals, The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan.

For the First Time Ever, You Can See Stunning, Centuries-Old Murals at England’s Oldest Hospital

The biblical scenes by William Hogarth are a highlight of the North Wing at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, which is now open for public tours

Researchers have revived an ancient yogurt-making method based on red wood ants.

Scientists and Chefs Team Up to Make Yogurt From Ants

In doing so, the team has revived an ancient Bulgarian fermentation method

11,000 Strings at Park Avenue Armory

In an Experimental Composition, 50 Pianos Tuned to Slightly Different Frequencies Play Together

Audience members are surrounded by a ring of dozens of pianos in “11,000 Strings”

More than 250 looted objects are on display in UNESCO's Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects.

The World’s First Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects Wants Its Collection to Shrink, Not Grow

Visitors can explore 3D renderings of stolen artworks, historical artifacts, rare books and more in UNESCO’s new digital museum

The red house was occupied by descendants of Kahlo's sister until two years ago.  

Frida Kahlo’s Family Home and Artistic Retreat Opens as a Museum

Museo Casa Kahlo occupies “Casa Roja,” which is only a few blocks away from the Museo Frida Kahlo in “Casa Azul”

A magnified view of tiny specks of blue residue found on a Paleolithic stone artifact

Cool Finds

These Archaeologists Set Out in Search of Animal Fat. Instead, They Found the Oldest Blue Pigment Ever Discovered in Europe

Blue residue on a 13,000-year-old stone artifact, long believed to be an oil lamp, may paint a new picture of Paleolithic art and culture

The Triumph of Bacchus, Michaelina Wautier, circa 1655-59

A Long-Forgotten 17th-Century Flemish Master Is Finally Getting the Attention She Deserves

For the first time, nearly all of Baroque painter Michaelina Wautier’s works will be exhibited together

The bridge opened on September 28, 2025.

The Highest Bridge in the World Just Opened in China at More Than 2,000 Feet Above the Ground

The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Guizhou broke the record previously held by the nearby Beipanjiang Bridge

The museum is housed in the 17th-century Hotel Salé.

A Free Outdoor Sculpture Park Dedicated to Pablo Picasso Is Coming to Paris

The Picasso Museum will build the open-air park by 2030. The nearly $60 million expansion will also include a new wing designed to house temporary exhibitions

The original dye transfer print for David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album cover, shot by Brian Duffy

The Iconic Cover of David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ Could Become the Most Expensive Album Artwork Ever Sold

Shot by Brian Duffy in 1973, the famous lightning bolt print is estimated to break the record currently held by Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album

Frida Kahlo painted The Dream (The Bed) in 1940 during a period of “intense personal trauma and creative renewal,” according to Sotheby's.

This Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Could Become the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Sold at Auction

“The Dream (The Bed)” will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in November. Experts say it could fetch between $40 million and $60 million

The "Vanderbilt Sapphire" by Tiffany & Company is estimated to fetch at least $1 million at auction.

You Can Buy These Gilded Age Jewels That Once Belonged to the Vanderbilt Family

The collection, which will hit the auction block in November, includes a fragment of the tiara that Gladys Vanderbilt received upon her marriage to a Hungarian count

Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy (1968) was David Hockney's first entry in his famed double portrait series.

The First of David Hockney’s Famous Double Portraits Is Heading to Auction

Featuring English novelist Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Bachardy, the painting is one of Hockney’s most celebrated

In The Night Watch, Rembrandt included a small dog crouching in the shadows.

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Small Dog in Rembrandt’s Monumental Masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ Has Officially Been Solved

When a curator spotted a strikingly similar image of a dog by a lesser-known Dutch artist, she wondered if it could have inspired the pup in Rembrandt’s famous 1642 painting

Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), Pablo Picasso, 1943

This Forgotten Picasso Painting Just Emerged From the Shadows for the First Time Since 1944

“Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar),” a poignant portrait of the Spanish artist’s lover and muse, had been in private hands for eight decades

Stephen Shore's parents on a corner in Rhinebeck, New York

Before Stephen Shore Became Famous, He Was a 12-Year-Old Photographer Capturing Stunning Scenes of 1960s New York

In his latest book, titled “Early Work,” the renowned photographer revisits the bold black-and-white images he took between 1960 and 1965

Susanna and the Elders was bought for an undisclosed sum after being put up for sale this summer by New York art dealer Nicholas Hall.

This Tiny Museum in Coastal Denmark Just Surpassed the Louvre in One Big Way

Following its latest acquisition, the Nivaagaard Collection has become a global leader in Renaissance and Baroque-period female painters

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