Art

Hilma af Klint, pictured in her studio circa 1885

Cool Finds

See Newly Discovered Works by Trailblazing Painter Hilma af Klint

The Swedish Modernist created innovative, genre-defying abstract art inspired by science, mysticism and her own encounters with the spiritual world

Artist Meret Oppenheim, photographed by Margrit Baumann in 1982

Looking Beyond Surrealist Artist Meret Oppenheim's Famous Furry Teacup

A new exhibition highlights the dazzling breadth of the 20th-century painter, sculptor and photographer's oeuvre

Award-winning filmmaker Janay Kelley honed her skills in the video lab in Cloud901. The state-of-the-art teen learning facility is one of the biggest and best of its kind.

How Memphis Created the Nation's Most Innovative Public Library

You can play the ukulele, learn photography or record a song in a top-flight studio. You can also check out a book

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall (detail), circa 1535–40

Hans Holbein's Portraits Defined—and Immortalized—Tudor England's Elite

An exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum features some of the painter's most famous portraits of power players in Henry VIII's court

Illustration of Marie de France, poet who lived in England in the late 12th century

The Unheralded Women Scribes Who Brought Medieval Manuscripts to Life

A new book by scholar Mary Wellesley spotlights the anonymous artisans behind Europe's richly illuminated volumes

Singer-songwriter and visual artist Solange has launched a free library of rare works by Black authors, available to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis.

Singer and Artist Solange Debuts Free Library of Rare Books by Black Authors

Readers in the U.S. can borrow 50 titles, including collections of poems by Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes and a sci-fi novel by Octavia Butler

Yale's namesake sits at the center of this group portrait, Elihu Yale With Members of His Family and an Enslaved Child (circa 1719, attributed to John Verelst).

Who Is the Enslaved Child in This Portrait of Yale University's Namesake?

Scholars have yet to identify the young boy, but new research offers insights on his age and likely background

The internationally recognized paper artist Jiyong Chung works in the Korean craft of Joomchi (above: Balance IV, detail), a technique that was born of necessity centuries ago.

Three Craft Artists Share How the Pandemic Has Reshaped Life and Art

Traditional and innovative specialists make ready for the upcoming virtual Smithsonian Craft Show and Sale

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's A Large Group of Punchinelli is expected to fetch more than $200,000 at auction.

Cool Finds

Rare 18th-Century Drawing by Rococo Artist Tiepolo Discovered in English Estate's Attic

"Wrapped in bubble wrap" and forgotten, the artwork had collected dust in one of Weston Hall's nine attics for decades

Tompson (far left) with colleagues Dot Smith, Walt Disney and Donna Luppo in an undated photo

Ruthie Tompson, Who Shaped Disney's Most Beloved Films, Dies at 111

She spent nearly 40 years at the company, reviewing animations and planning camera angles for classics like "Snow White" and "Dumbo"

"As an artist and an art lover," says the artist Nicolas Party, his site-specific, 829-foot work, Draw the Curtain, "is a way to pay homage" to the many art museums located in Washington, D.C. The Hirshhorn invited Party to help to disguise construction scaffolding as it undergoes a lengthy renovation.

A Peek Behind the Curtain of Hirshhorn's Largest Artwork Ever

After wrapping the museum's historic building in a huge, playful painting, Swiss artist Nicolas Party reveals what he hid in plain sight

Stretching 4,800 square feet in size, the piece coincides with the United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child initiative and is also part of World Space Week.

A Monumental Portrait of NASA Astronaut Stephanie Wilson Crops Up in Atlanta

The earthwork is the latest in land artist Stan Herd's impressive, decades-spanning portfolio

Abdulrazak Gurnah, 73, was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

Abdulrazak Gurnah, Chronicler of Migrant Experience, Wins 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Zanzibar-born author of ten novels tells richly detailed stories about people living "in the gulf between cultures and continents"

Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, April–May 1885

The Untold Story of van Gogh's Once-Maligned Masterpiece, 'The Potato Eaters'

An exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum spotlights the artist’s dynamic depiction of peasant life—a painting that critics hated and he loved

Titled Avant-Garde, the monumental shaped canvas alludes to Liu as a “guard” of a socialist reality she did not condone.

The Revolutionary Portraiture of Hung Liu

For this large-scale retrospective of the Asian American artist, who died this summer, east meets west in an exquisite collision

Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982

Why Andy Warhol Peed on This Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat

One of the iconic Pop Artist's "oxidation" paintings, the work will go up for auction at Christie's next month

Researchers studying Edvard Munch's Madonna (left) discovered hidden underdrawings (right) that reveal how the artist tinkered with his composition over time.

Art Meets Science

Hidden Sketch Reveals a More Traditional Version of Edvard Munch's Sensual 'Madonna'

A chance discovery suggests the woman's provocative pose was originally somewhat subdued

Barbara Kruger's rendering of exhibition entryway at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2011/2020

Major Barbara Kruger Exhibition Spills Out Into the Streets of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago's new show adorns the city's buses, trains, billboards and more with the feminist artist's creations

The museum has a written agreement that the money must be returned when the exhibition ends on January 16, 2022. But Haaning says he has no plans to repay the cash.

Artist Takes Museum's $84,000, Returns With Blank Canvases Titled 'Take the Money and Run'

Jens Haaning says he has no plans to repay the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, which expected him to incorporate the cash into a new artwork

I Go To Prepare A Place For You (detail) by Bisa Butler, 2021

These Stunning Artworks Capture the Resilience—and Defiance—of Black Lives Matter

At NMAAHC's new show "Reckoning" Bisa Butler’s vivid Harriet Tubman joins works from Amy Sherald, Jean-Michel Basquiat and other prominent visual artists

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