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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Sagrada Família, in Barcelona, Spain

This Basilica Has Been Rising Above Barcelona for 144 Years. With Its Central Tower Now Complete, Pope Leo XIV Prepares to Visit

When Antoni Gaudí dreamed up his ambitious vision for Sagrada Família, he knew he wouldn’t live to see its completion. One hundred years after the architect’s death, the tallest tower has reached its peak

Winston Churchill painting in Belgium, September 1946

Catch a Surprising Glimpse at WWII Leader Winston Churchill’s Pastime—Painting—at the First Major British Retrospective Since His Death

More than 50 canvases on view in London detail the prime minister’s quieter moments away from wars, speeches and politics

The exhibition includes 14 original mural panels and two recreations.

See the Rescued and Restored ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Mural Painted for Sick Children at a New York Hospital

Abram Champanier’s “Alice of Wonderland Visiting New York” was a commission from the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program that championed American art in public spaces

Liberty Lager is a brew inspired by Washington’s small beer recipe.

America's 250th Anniversary

George Washington Recorded a Recipe for Beer While Leading a Militia. Thanks to the New York Public Library, You Can Imbibe That History This Summer

To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the library partnered with a brewery to produce the founding father’s beer — and an updated version more pleasing to modern palates

The band is gold and the gem is a nicolo, or “little onyx.”

Cool Finds

See the ‘Spectacular’ Gold-and-Gemstone Ring a Roman Likely Buried for Safekeeping 1,700 Years Ago

The ring, discovered in an English field and deemed a “treasure,” has ties to a power grab that a military leader made in Roman Britain

The red fox, native to the United Kingdom, is among the six shortlisted mammals up for public vote to appear on new bank notes. 

Can a Hedgehog Replace Winston Churchill? See Which Animals May Soon Swap In for Historical Figures on British Pounds

Butterflies, dolphins and puffins are among the options the public will vote on to grace new bank notes

The painted wall in 2024, enhanced on the right by a DStretch filter

Cool Finds

A Century After Causing Controversy, Red Cave Markings in Wales Are Classified Again as Britain’s Oldest Rock Art

The team of scientists used modern dating methods to confirm an old hypothesis by the rock art’s initial discoverers

Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan

Someone Stole a Banana Duct-Taped to the Wall of a French Museum. One of Its Duplicates Fetched More Than $6 Million at Auction

This isn’t the first time the fruit at the center of the infamous “Comedian” art piece has been stolen or eaten

The mosaic in 2007, before being repaired

The Gouged-Out Testicles of This Bull Mosaic in Italy Are Just Two More Victims of Tourists Abusing Monuments for Luck

It’s common for visitors to touch intimate areas portrayed in artworks, but the phenomenon puts cultural icons at risk

Joplin, Missouri, located along historic Route 66, is hosting the World Street Painting festival. This artwork is from a 2025 festival.

Asphalt Is the Canvas for This Year’s World Street Painting Festival in Joplin, Missouri, Which Honors 100 Years of Route 66

Immersive paintings, which function as massive optical illusions, pay tribute to the “Mother Road” and its influence on American culture

A rendering of the new Centre Pompidou Hanwha museum, called a “box of light,” in Seoul

Korean and French Culture Are Set to Rendezvous at a New Museum in Seoul for Modern and Contemporary Art

The Centre Pompidou Hanwha, the newest member of a growing global network of art museums, will debut with an exhibition on European cubism and Korean art

A kibble Mona Lisa on display

Using Colorful Dog Kibble, Artists Turn ‘Mona Lisa,’ ‘The Scream’ and ‘The Kiss’ Into Museum Masterpieces That Man’s Best Friend Can Appreciate

Sisters from New Jersey spent two months recreating famous artworks while also making sure their dog didn’t get into the edible art supplies

Detail from Hilma af Klint's Retable, No. 1 (1915)

Meet Hilma af Klint, the Occultist Who Believed Otherworldly Spirits Told Her What to Paint. Now, She’s Considered One of History’s First Abstract Artists

The Swedish painter created bold, vibrant works as early as 1906—several years before contemporaries like Wassily Kandinsky. A new exhibition in France celebrates her sweeping “Paintings for the Temple” series

No likenesses of Ona Judge survive today. The only surviving description of her comes from a runaway ad, which states that she was “a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, slender and delicately formed, about 20 years of age.”

Ona Judge Escaped From Slavery While George Washington Was Busy Eating Dinner Inside. Now, a New Mural Honors Her Legacy

The artwork in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shows Judge arriving in the city after her journey from Philadelphia in May 1796. She remained a free woman until her death in 1848

The Leonora Carrington exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris

No Mere Muse, This Influential Surrealist Artist and Feminist Gets Her Due in a New Biopic and Art Exhibitions

Leonora Carrington’s life and work are celebrated with the new film “Leonora in the Morning Light.” Meanwhile, an exhibition at the Freud Museum showcases for the first time artwork she created inside a psychiatric hospital

The Cerne Abbas Giant lies on a hillside.

England’s Most Famous Naked Giant Will Glow White Again, Thanks to Help From Hundreds of People Performing a Ritual of Restoration

The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 180-foot-tall geoglyph in southern England, is getting a new layer of chalk

The sycamore tree before it was felled in 2023

How Do You Honor a Fallen Tree? In England, a Sound Sculpture Will Broadcast the ‘Voice’ of a Beloved Sycamore Felled Near Hadrian’s Wall

“The People’s Tree” will also incorporate the tree’s wood and archive recordings from the public in a series of community artworks

The illuminated manuscript's illustrations contain precious metals.

See the Stunning Medieval Manuscript Telling Tales of King Arthur, in Ink and Polished Gold, That’s Headed to Auction

The manuscript was made by a skilled, anonymous artist between 1290 and 1310. It’s the oldest of only three privately owned Vulgate Cycle manuscripts

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, James McNeill Whistler, 1871

Whistler Didn’t Mean to Make His Mourning Mother an Art World Star. Today, She’s a Highlight at a Major Exhibition in London

Officially titled ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,’ James McNeill Whistler’s stoic portrait of his mother has come to define the artist’s style and legacy. The artwork is currently on display in the same city where it was painted more than 150 years ago

A detail from Jackson Pollock's Number 7A, 1948

What Did Jackson Pollock Hope to Accomplish With This Dizzying Drip Painting, Which Just Sold for a Record-Breaking $181 Million?

The Abstract Expressionist is best known for his action paintings, which emphasized the movements of the artist’s body during the creative process. “Number 7A, 1948” is now his most expensive work ever auctioned

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