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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Artist Graham Sutherland painted this study of William Churchill in preparation for a portrait that the politician famously despised.

A Study for the Portrait Winston Churchill Famously Abhorred Is for Sale

The final painting, dramatized on Netflix’s “The Crown,” was secretly burned in the middle of the night

After its century-long disappearance, the book was returned in good condition earlier this year.

Cool Finds

Overdue Book Returned to Colorado Library After 105 Years

The Fort Collins library waived the fine, which totaled over $14,000 when adjusted for inflation

Ruben Soto (right), a migrant from Venezuela, sits with Rosa Bello, a Honduran migrant, on top of a freight train known as “The Beast.” Ruben and Rosa met in Mexico and fell in love on their way to the United States.

See 25 Astonishing Images From the World Press Photo Contest

The winning photographs capture moving moments in the midst of tumultuous global events

In Scrabble Together, players work as a team to solve challenges.

Scrabble Introduces a Less Competitive Version of the Classic Word Game

Scrabble Together, now available in Europe, is the first major update to the game in more than 75 years

Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange was undergoing renovations when the building caught fire on April 16, 2024.

Fire Devastates Copenhagen’s Historic Stock Exchange

Its signature 184-foot spire collapsed, but rescuers salvaged some of the valuable artworks inside

Visitors at the Dalí Museum can pick up a recreation of the artist's Lobster Telephone (1938) and ask the A.I. replica a question.

Art Meets Science

You Can Chat With an A.I. Replica of Salvador Dalí

At a Florida museum, “Ask Dalí” allows visitors to speak with the Surrealist artist via a lobster telephone

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov performs a dance at his 35th birthday celebration in 2011.

Chechnya Bans Music That Isn’t Between 80 and 116 Beats Per Minute

Officials have given artists until June 1 to rewrite material that does not fall within the accepted range

Researchers uncovered this fresco of Helen of Troy and Paris in a newly excavated Pompeii dining room.

Cool Finds

‘Spectacular’ Frescoes of Helen of Troy, Apollo and Zeus Unearthed Among the Ruins of Pompeii

Found in an ancient dining hall, the artworks depict characters associated with the Trojan War

Ringgold was best known for her colorful "story quilts," an art form anchored in narrative storytelling and influenced by Black American artistic traditions.

Women Who Shaped History

Pioneering Artist Faith Ringgold Stitched Together Stories of Black Life

The Harlem-born painter, who died this week at age 93, elevated the everyday lives of Black Americans and fought for representation in major museums

The Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany, has more than 20,000 works in its collection.

Employee Quietly Sneaks His Own Painting Onto the Walls of a German Museum

After discovering the stunt, the ​​Pinakothek der Moderne fired the staffer and reported the crime to the police

Shababeek for Contemporary Art was leveled during an Israeli military campaign in late March.

Arts Center in Gaza Destroyed in Israeli Hospital Siege

Shababeek for Contemporary Art was the last established visual arts center still standing in the enclave

Members of the Little Rock Nine study together after being blocked from Little Rock Central High in 1957.

Little Rock Nine and Paul McCartney React to Beyoncé’s ‘Blackbird’ Cover

McCartney was inspired to write the song after hearing about the battle to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957

Readers were first introduced to Superman in June 1938.

The First Issue of Superman Just Became the Most Valuable Comic Book in the World

An original copy of 1938’s “Action Comics No. 1” sold for a record-breaking $6 million at auction

Fernando Sánchez Castillo's reimagining of Velázquez's Expulsion of the Moriscos

Art Meets Science

This Artist Used A.I. to Recreate a Velázquez Painting Lost in a Fire 300 Years Ago

Fernando Sánchez Castillo employed historical resources and image-generation technologies to reimagine “Expulsion of the Moriscos”

The handwritten manuscript of The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel

Arthur Conan Doyle Agreed to Write ‘The Sign of the Four’ at a Fateful Dinner in 1889

The handwritten manuscript he produced is going to auction, where it could become the most expensive item associated with the mystery writer ever sold

Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir topped the list, followed by George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue.

These Were the Most Challenged Books in America Last Year

Titles with LGBTQ themes dominated the American Library Association’s newly released list

A poster for Oppenheimer in Tokyo

‘Oppenheimer’ Opens in Japan Eight Months After Worldwide Release

The acclaimed biopic of the Manhattan Project’s leader has been met with mixed reviews by Japanese audiences

The symmetrical rock was found near Still Bay, a town located about 200 miles east of Cape Town.

New Research

Is This Stingray-Shaped Rock the Oldest Known Animal Art?

While they urge caution, researchers think an artist may have traced a stingray in the sand some 130,000 years ago

Reconstruction illustrating sliding cover as it opens, featuring Lorenzo Lotto's Portrait of Giovanna de' Rossi (left) and Portrait Cover With an Allegory of Chastity (right), circa 1505

Why Were So Many Renaissance Portraits Multisided?

A new exhibition at the Met is the first to examine the tradition of covered 15th- and 16th-century portraits, which were designed to be interactive and often portable

Comedian George Carlin, who died in 2008, performing a standup routine in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1992

George Carlin A.I. Imitation Case Reaches Settlement

The late comedian’s estate brought a lawsuit against two podcast hosts who used an A.I. voice generator to deliver a fake stand-up routine

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