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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Andy Warhol's White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)

Andy Warhol’s 12-Foot-Tall ‘White Disaster’ Could Sell For $80 Million

The piece is part of a series exploring death, disaster and the artist’s preoccupation with mortality

Civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in 1964

When Julia Roberts Was Born, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Paid the Hospital Bill

The Roberts family had previously welcomed the Kings’ children to their theater school

Piet Mondrian's New York City I (1941)

Has This Piet Mondrian Painting Been Hanging Upside Down for 77 Years?

Intriguing new observations suggest that it has—but curators are going to leave it the way it is

Guests watch Vikram Vedha on the opening day of Srinagar's multiplex cinema.

Movie Theaters Are Back in Kashmir. Is Anybody Watching?

The openings are part of an attempt to promote an image of normalcy in a conflict-ridden region

Singer Claire L. Evans of YACHT performs in Los Angeles.

Art Meets Science

How Artificial Intelligence Helped Make an Experimental Pop Album

YACHT’s “Chain Tripping,” made using only A.I.-generated melodies and lyrics, is the subject of a new documentary

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues explores the legendary singer and trumpet player's life and legacy.

This Rap Documentarian’s Latest Subject? Louis Armstrong

Sacha Jenkins tells the jazz musician’s story through rarely-seen archival footage and letters

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, will hit bookshelves on January 10, 2023.

Prince Harry Moves Forward With His Memoir, ‘Spare’

The Duke of Sussex’s book will hit shelves in January

Peter Paul Rubens' Salome Presented With the Head of John the Baptist was lost for centuries.

Cool Finds

Lost Rubens Painting, Rediscovered After Two Centuries, Could Sell for $35 Million

A French family found the masterpiece in their collection in 1987

The nine finalists are Samantha Raimis, CHUCK E., Carrie Torrence, Pamela Crumb, Frida Hitchcock, Blair Hanscom, Sally Strode, Rosie Romero and Wendy Craven.

Which of These Historical Dolls Is the Creepiest?

Vote for one of the nine finalists from a Minnesota museum’s collection

Last Generation protesters throw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting in Germany. 

Why Are Climate Activists Throwing Food at Million-Dollar Paintings?

In the most recent stunt, protesters tossed mashed potatoes at Monet’s “Grainstacks” in Germany

Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 1942

Reexamining Edward Hopper—and the Woman Behind His Career

“Hopper: An American Love Story” highlights the artist’s relationship with his wife, Josephine Nivison

The poster for "Habibi, Love's Revolutions" features art by Alireza Shojaian.

How 23 Artists Explore Queerness in the Arab World

“Habibi, Love’s Revolutions” reflects on LGBTQ experiences and identities

“This homage is a call for action to support the current revolution in Iran, led by brave Iranian women risking their lives to stand up against oppression to overthrow a longtime authoritarian regime,” the Anonymous Artist Collective for Iran says.

Iranian Artists Stage Anonymous Protest at the Guggenheim Museum

The group draped red banners across four floors in support of the protests gathering momentum in Iran

A rendering of a giant flower pot vacation rental on a farm in Idaho, designed by Whitney H. from the United States

Spend the Night in a Giant Flower Pot or a Supersized Cereal Box

Airbnb is giving $100,000 each to 100 people to help them build the most off-beat lodgings they could imagine

Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown in the film) poses onstage at London's production of Back to the Future: The Musical

Great Scott! ‘Back to the Future’ Is Coming to Broadway

Marty McFly, Doc Brown and their iconic DeLorean are heading to New York City this summer

Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) by Egon Schiele

Nazis Stole Two Paintings From a Jewish Cabaret Star. Now, His Heirs Are Selling Them

Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting underrepresented artists

NOFX's Mike "Fat Mike" Burkett, one of the new museum's founders, performing in August 

A Punk Rock Museum Is Coming to Las Vegas

Thousands of instruments, set lists, flyers and other ephemera will tell the genre’s story

Actress Anna May Wong is the latest woman to appear on the quarter under the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters program.

Meet Anna May Wong, the First Asian American on U.S. Currency

The trailblazing actress overcame discrimination to become a global star

Freddie Mercury on stage in 1986

Cool Finds

Queen Releases Newly Discovered Song With Vocals From Freddie Mercury

Once believed to be lost, the track comes from a 1988 recording session

King Fire Self Portrait by Jeff Frost (2018)

See How California Artists Process Wildfires Through Their Work

A new exhibition showcases art that seeks to make sense of destruction

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