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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

A rendering of Iván Argote's giant pigeon statue perched on top of the High Line

This 16-Foot-Tall Pigeon Sculpture Is Coming to New York City’s High Line

Artist Iván Argote hopes the artwork, titled “Dinosaur,” will inspire “attraction, seduction and fear”

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, in 1932.

A Statue of Johnny Cash Is Coming to the U.S. Capitol

Standing alongside civil rights leader Daisy Bates, the singer-songwriter will represent the state of Arkansas in Statuary Hall

After delays and months of uncertainty, triathletes finally took the plunge into the Seine River in Paris.

The Paris Olympics

Olympians Finally Got to Swim in the Seine River

After months of uncertainty, the women’s and men’s triathlon events kicked off with a dip in the long-polluted waterway that runs through the heart of Paris

Performance artist Abraham Poincheval stands inside a giant glass bottle on the Canal Saint-Denis.

The Paris Olympics

French Performance Artist Seals Himself in a Giant Bottle for Ten Days Outside Paris’ Olympic Stadium

Abraham Poincheval has become a living message in a bottle, exploring themes of privacy and public space

Rembrandt van Rijn completed The Night Watch, a group portrait of Amsterdam's local militia, in 1642.

New Research

What Is the Secret Ingredient Behind Rembrandt’s Golden Glow?

Scientists found arsenic sulfide pigments in “The Night Watch,” arguably the artist’s most famous painting

This bronze helmet found near Corinaldo, Italy, belongs to the Piceni civilization.

Cool Finds

Aristocratic Tomb Discovered in Italy Offers Clues to a Mysterious Pre-Roman Civilization

The burial site, rife with Iron Age artifacts like a chariot and a helmet, likely belonged to a Piceni prince

Tomasz Stachura, one of the divers who found the wreck, saw bubbles inside some of the Champagne bottles.

Cool Finds

Divers Find Crates of Unopened Champagne in 19th-Century Shipwreck

Discovered near Sweden, the vessel was loaded with bottles of sparkling wine, mineral water and porcelain

The costume that sold at auction was not the one that made it into the final version of the film, but rather an earlier iteration that Fisher wore on set for screen testing.

Is Princess Leia’s ‘Star Wars’ Bikini the Most Controversial Costume in Sci-Fi History?

A version of the gold outfit worn by Carrie Fisher on the set of “Return of the Jedi” fetched $175,000 at auction

This portrait of Henry VIII was one of 22 in a set commissioned by Ralph Sheldon in the late 16th century.

Cool Finds

Art Historian Discovers Long-Lost Portrait of Henry VIII in Background of Social Media Post

Commissioned by a wealthy tapestry maker in the 1590s, the Tudor king’s likeness features a distinctive frame with a rounded top

Brazilian Olympic surfer Gabriel Medina pops up after riding a barrel wave at Teahupo'o during the Summer Games on Monday. The photo by Jérôme Brouillet has gone viral.

Trending Today

The Story Behind This Breathtaking Viral Photo of an Olympic Surfer

Jérôme Brouillet, a photojournalist with the Agence France-Presse (AFP), captured an iconic moment when Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina celebrated after setting an Olympic record

The Dolphin Hotel is a historic structure dating in Southampton, England.

Inside the Controversial Plan to Turn a Hotel Where Jane Austen Attended Balls Into Student Dorms

Devoted readers are worried about the fate of the historic Dolphin Hotel in southern England

Fish swim by an ancient Roman mosaic once part of a wealthy villa in the city of Baiae.

Cool Finds

Divers Discover Mesmerizing Roman Mosaic Beneath the Sea

Found near Naples, the marble slabs once adorned a villa in a city known as the Las Vegas of the Roman Empire

A still from Andy Warhol's Empire

Watch Andy Warhol’s Eight-Hour Film About the Empire State Building on the Skyscraper’s 80th Floor

Released in 1964, the divisive experimental film is being screened in honor of its 60th anniversary

Artist Lily Hevesh's 50-by-50-foot domino display at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Watch 100,000 Dominoes Topple to the Ground in a Dazzling Eight-Minute Display

Artist Lily Hevesh spent ten days creating the elaborate installation at the National Building Museum

Excavations underway in the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome

Cool Finds

Ruins of Centuries-Old Palace That Housed Dozens of Popes Discovered in Rome

Before the papacy relocated in the 1300s, first to Avignon and then to the Vatican, pontiffs lived at the Lateran Palace

The artifact had been on view at a table inside the British Museum in London.

This Art Student Stole a Coin From the British Museum—and Dropped It in the Donation Box

Ilê Sartuzi briefly pocketed a 17th-century coin to make a statement about looted artifacts held by the museum

The newly discovered self-portrait by Norman Cornish

Cool Finds

Hidden Self-Portrait by Norman Cornish Discovered Behind Another Painting

A conservator in northern England stumbled upon the work on the reverse side of a piece called “Bar Scene”

Visitors examine a 3D replica of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.

New Yorkers Step Into Life-Size Replicas of Iconic Edward Hopper Paintings

Three of the realist painter’s most famous artworks came to life in an interactive installation in Manhattan

Mango, Hilary Pecis, 2024

See Fetching Portraits of Man’s Best Friend in a New Exhibition All About Dogs

“Dog Days of Summer” features artworks in a variety of styles made between 1915 and the present

The five-foot-tall bronze statue was installed in Peace Park in the '90s.

A Statue of a 12-Year-Old Hiroshima Victim Has Been Stolen

The monument to Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia in 1955, vanished from Peace Park in Seattle

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