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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

An aerial view of the ongoing efforts to reconstruct Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, pictured in June 2021

Cool Finds

The 2019 Notre-Dame Fire Revealed Iron Staples Holding the Cathedral Together

The Paris landmark is the first known Gothic cathedral to use iron in this way, researchers say

Nina Simone's childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina

Venus Williams Is Joining a New Push to Restore Nina Simone’s Childhood Home

The singer-songwriter learned to play the piano in the 650-square-foot house

Vinyl record sales have growing for the past 15 years.

Vinyl Records Outsell CDs for First Time Since 1987

Music lovers in the United States bought 41 million vinyl albums and 33 million CDs in 2022

A puffin in soft light surrounded by faint raindrops.

See 15 Amazing Wildlife Images From the Sony World Photography Awards

The contest showcases the work of some of the planet’s best photographers

Still from "Masterpiece" featuring Coca-Cola's take on The Scream (1895)

Coca-Cola Uses Famous Paintings By Warhol, Munch and More to Sell Soda

The company’s new ad campaign, “Masterpiece,” brings iconic artworks to life

Director Richard Linklater won a Golden Globe Award for directing Boyhood (2014), which he shot over the course of 12 years.

Fans Worry They Won’t Live Long Enough to See Richard Linklater’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’

The director is shooting his adaptation of the Sondheim musical over 20 years

Dream America (2015) by Violette Bule, a conceptual artist who worked in the service industry

How Artists’ Day Jobs Shape Their Craft

A new exhibition examines the generative relationship between work and creativity

The Source of the Lison (1864) by Gustave Courbet

Cool Finds

Workers Stumble Upon Lost Courbet Painting in University Basement

After a years-long authentication process, “The Source of the Lison” goes on display in Philadelphia

The new Toni Morrison stamp, which features a 1997 photograph by Deborah Feingold, was designed by Ethel Kessler.

Postal Service Unveils Forever Stamp Honoring Toni Morrison

A ceremony at Princeton celebrated the Nobel laureate whose words transformed American literature

The British architect David Chipperfield hopes to "address the existential challenges of climate change and societal inequality."

David Chipperfield Wins Pritzker Prize, the Highest Honor in Architecture

The civic-minded architect is respectful of the past as he pushes his field forward

Johannes Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis museum

Thousands of Artists Reimagine Vermeer’s ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’

A Dutch museum selected winning works by five artists—and one A.I. image generator

The top row shows the actual images participants looked at, while the bottom row shows an A.I. recreation of each image based on the participant's brain scans.

This A.I. Used Brain Scans to Recreate Images People Saw

The technology, which was tested with four people, is still in its infancy but could one day help people communicate or decode dreams, researchers say

Cherry Lane bills itself as the longest continually running off-Broadway theater.

Indie Film Studio A24 Buys Off-Broadway Theater

The studio made its first foray into live performance with the purchase of the Cherry Lane Theater

The cast bows at the curtain call during a performance of The Great British Bake Off Musical in London, England, on March 6

‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’ Comes to London’s West End

A new stage adaptation aims to capture the heart of the beloved baking show

Edward Brooke-Hitching's The Madman Gallery spotlights such artworks as John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Madame X, a statue of Glycon and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's Character Heads.

The Most Enigmatic Works in Art History

A new book highlights 100 artistic curiosities, from the nude “Mona Lisa” to portraits of a dog-headed saint

On the show, experts give contestants advice about Vermeer’s lost paintings.

Dutch Artists Compete to Paint Like Vermeer in New Reality Show

The contestants are tasked with recreating six of the old master’s lost works

Dictionary.com regularly adds new words with staying power to its online listings.

Dictionary.com Adds More Than 300 New Words

Additions like “digital nomad,” “anti-fat” and “liminal space” reflect the dynamic nature of the English language

Ukraine has released stamps featuring a Banksy mural, which depicts a child defeating a Putin-like figure in a judo match.

Ukraine Releases Banksy Postage Stamp on War’s One-Year Anniversary

The street artist painted the image on a demolished wall during his secret trip to the country last fall

Salvador Dalí in 1939

Did Salvador Dalí Paint This Enigmatic Artwork?

After two curators began doubting the painting’s authenticity, they made an unexpected discovery about its origins

David Bowie performing as the Thin White Duke, one of his personas, during the Station to Station tour in 1976

David Bowie’s 80,000-Item Archive Will Go on Display

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is building a new venue dedicated to the artist

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