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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The origins of the word "OK" have long been a subject of scholarly debate.

How One Man Discovered the Obscure Origins of the Word ‘OK’

From Civil War biscuits to a Haitian port town, theories about the word’s beginnings abounded

Riviera Coast Scene, Winston Churchill, circa 1935

Check Out Ten Never-Before-Seen Paintings by Winston Churchill

The former British prime minister was an avid painter who sometimes gifted his works to other world leaders

Pumpkin, which stands at 19.5 feet tall, is Kusama's tallest bronze gourd sculpture to date.

A Giant Polka-Dotted Pumpkin Takes Root in London’s Kensington Gardens

The bronze sculpture was created by famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who often uses pumpkins in her work

Cypress Hill's Sen Dog and B-Real perform with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Cypress Hill Performs With the London Symphony Orchestra—Just as ‘The Simpsons’ Predicted 28 Years Ago

Originally a gag on the sitcom, the unexpected collaboration drew a packed house at the Royal Albert Hall in London

A plastic tarp covering part of the cathedral's spire caught fire on July 11.

Fire Extinguished at Rouen Cathedral, a Frequent Subject of Monet’s Paintings

The 12th-century structure and the artworks inside it sustained no significant damage

A damselfly covered with drops of dew sits on a leaf in this close-up photo.

See Ten Creepy-Crawly Portraits From the Insect Week Photography Contest

The Royal Entomological Society’s Photography Competition highlights the wonder and diversity of the six-legged creatures that crawl, swim and fly across the planet

Researchers identified three distinct periods when melodies became significantly simpler.

Pop Music Melodies Have Gotten Simpler Over Time

A new analysis of Billboard hits from 1950 to 2023 finds that melodic complexity has been steadily decreasing

Barbies from the "Inspiring Women" collection, including dolls representing British model Adwoa Aboah and U.S. tennis player Billie Jean King

Travel Through Barbieland at London’s Design Museum

A new exhibition traces the evolution of one of the world’s most famous dolls over six decades

Victoria created this 1833 ink sketch when she was 14 years old. It's inscribed, "original sketch by the Royal Highness the Princess Victoria.

You Can Buy Four Drawings by a Young Queen Victoria

The sketches, which are heading to auction this week, showcase the teenage royal’s devotion to the arts

A still from Taylor Swift's "Willow" music video

Taylor Swift Is in Her Museum Era

The singer’s costumes and memorabilia are the subject of an upcoming exhibition at London’s V&A Museum

Aphra Behn's The Amorous Prince, or, The Curious Husband was staged this month for the first time in 350 years.

Aphra Behn, the First Englishwoman to Earn a Living With Her Writing, Is Finally Getting Her Due

A year-long event series aims to champion the pioneering 17th-century writer’s legacy

An inflatable raft appears to float through the crowd during Little Simz's performance at Glastonbury.

Banksy Takes Credit For an Inflatable Migrant Raft That Floated Across a Glastonbury Crowd

The street artist’s latest stunt is thought to be a criticism of the U.K.’s immigration policies

A team of Italian and Egyptian archaeologists discovered the tombs along the west bank of the Nile.

Cool Finds

Trove of Tombs Sheds Light on How Ancient Egyptian Families Lived—and Died

The finds include mummies from many social classes, some of whom were buried alongside relatives after succumbing to disease

A circa 1846 portrait of Dolley Madison by John Plumbe Jr.

Women Who Shaped History

The Smithsonian Acquires the Earliest Known Photograph of an American First Lady

The National Portrait Gallery purchased an 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison for $456,000

Marina Abramović leads a seven minute silence for peace at Glastonbury.  

Artist Marina Abramović Silences Glastonbury Crowd for Seven Minutes

The typically boisterous crowd went quiet for a collective peace protest

The slippers were on loan at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, when they were stolen in 2005.

The Judy Garland Museum Wants to Buy Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers

Officials hope to raise millions to bid on the shoes, which were missing for over a decade, at auction in December

Born in 1881 in Spain, Pablo Picasso spent most of his life in Paris, where he helped develop Cubism with French painter Georges Braque.

You Can Now See Thousands of Pablo Picasso’s Works in a New Online Archive

The Picasso Museum in Paris has released a digital portal featuring the Spanish painter and sculptor’s art

St. Gregory of Nazianzus is finally heading home to Germany.

This Rubens Painting Vanished During World War II. Now, It’s Returning Home to a Castle in Germany

“St. Gregory of Nazianzus,” once part of the Baroque palace’s collection, was stolen and sold at the end of the war

The Wolfe family met Kevin as a puppy, but he grew to be three feet and two inches tall.

The World’s Tallest Male Dog Dies Days After Receiving the Record

Kevin, a Great Dane, measured over three feet tall—about the same size as an average 3-year-old child

The annual parade was founded in Brooklyn's Coney Island in 1983.

At Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade, Thousands Channel Aquatic Weirdness

Crowds decked out as fantastical sea creatures flocked to Brooklyn’s amusement district for the summer kickoff event

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