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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The Magritte Museum in Belgium contained the final piece of the Magritte puzzle.

Cool Finds

Final Piece of Hidden Magritte Masterpiece Found

X-rays have revealed the last bit of “La Pose Enchantee,” which the artist cut up and reused in the early 1930s

Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi'

Why Critics Are Skeptical About the Record-Smashing $450 Million da Vinci

While the sale of “Salvator Mundi” has generated a considerable amount of excitement, there are doubts about its authenticity

Lawsuit Seeks “Personhood” for Three Connecticut Elephants

An animal advocacy group has filed a petition requesting that the elephants be removed from a traveling zoo

“For 20 years, everyone referred to The Dinner Party as ... ‘vaginas on plates,’” Chicago says. “Nobody called it the history of women in western civilization, which of course, is what it is.”

These Fall Exhibitions Explore the Origins of Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party”

Brooklyn Museum and National Museum of Women in the Arts revisit the artist’s celebration of unrecognized women, female body

A voting sign from the 2008 election.

For a Few Decades in the 18th Century, Women and African-Americans Could Vote in New Jersey

Then some politicians got angry

Mary Martin as Maria von Trapp in a publicity photo for The Sound of Music, the musical that debuted on Broadway on this day in 1959.

The Real-Life Story of Maria von Trapp

“The Sound of Music” was based on the true story of her life, but it took a few liberties

Cool Finds

New Portrait of Lord Nelson Found, Scars and All

One of many Nelson portraits by Leonardo Guzzardi, the painting has been restored to include his war wounds

Recycling bins at the Whiteman Recycling Center in Montana.

How the 1970s Created Recycling As We Know It

People recycled before then, but for different reasons

Sperry today sells a variety of footwear beyond the iconic deck shoes.

The Story of the Sperry Top-Sider

Paul A. Sperry’s innovative boat shoes were inspired by his dog

JFK, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnston, First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy and others watching the 1961 flight of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

A Year Before His Presidential Debate, JFK Foresaw How TV Would Change Politics

Television’s first iconic president was remarkably prescient on the subject of TV

A makeshift shrine to Timothy Caughman, a black 66-year-old man who was fatally stabbed by James Harris Jackson, a white 28-year-old who reportedly traveled to New York with the intention of killing black men, on March 20th, 2017. The memorial was seen on the sidewalk at the Southeast corner of West 36th Street near to where Caughman resided and was slain. (Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones)

Trending Today

U.S. Hate Crimes Ticked Upward in 2016

The latest FBI stats show a 4.6 percent rise, but crimes may be underreported by a factor of 50

Yarr! Actor Robert Newton, whose portrayal of Long John Silver became famous, also played Blackbeard in a 1952 film.

This Film Version of ‘Treasure Island’ Gave Us Our Image of Pirates

Avast, you lubbers!

Robin Hood in a modern production of a play.

Students Allied Themselves With Robin Hood During This Anti-McCarthyism Movement

The students of the Green Feather Movement caused an on-campus controversy at Indiana University

The live cinema event traverses time periods, New York City boroughs, to present portrait of urban life

Archivist Captures New York’s Bygone Past Through Home Movies, Historical Footage

Rick Prelinger seeks to capture ephemeral portraits of city life

The made-for-TV movie An Early Frost went beyond entertainment and provided actual medical information to families of those living with HIV/AIDS.

In the Early Years of the AIDS Epidemic, Families Got Help From an Unlikely Source

‘An Early Frost’ was a made-for-TV movie with a purpose beyond entertainment

A sneak peak inside the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Five Things To Know About the New Louvre Abu Dhabi

It boasts an impressive rooftop, 55 buildings and a collection of more than 600 artworks—but it has been mired in controversy from the start

Chopin at 25, by his fiancée Maria Wodzińska.

Chopin’s Preserved Heart May Offer Clues About His Death

Scientists who recently examined the organ have suggested that Chopin died of complications from tuberculosis

An Eagle Brand Condensed Milk ad from 1891.

Like Condensed Milk? Try the ‘Meat Biscuit’

The meat biscuit was a practical idea but Gail Borden, also the inventor of condensed milk, never made it work

The True Story of the German-Jewish High Jumper Who Was Barred From the Berlin Olympics

A new Olympic Channel documentary explores Margaret Lambert’s stunted path to Olympic glory—and her resilience in the face of persecution

The Kremer Museum features more than 70 works by Dutch and Flemish Old Masters

Pop-Up VR Museum to Bring Dutch and Flemish Masterpieces to the Masses

The Kremer Museum was imagined up after its creators grew disillusioned with constraints associated with showcasing a collection in a physical building

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