Articles tagged as Art | Smithsonian Magazine

New research shows that while people respond to art for very different reasons, the ability to be moved in the first place is universal

August 10, 2015

Johannes Vermeer's "The Concert" was one of the most valuable paintings stolen from the Gardener Museum

Footage shows an unknown man entering the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum the night before the infamous robbery

August 7, 2015

Giovanni Stanchi (Rome c. 1645-1672). Oil on canvas, 38 5/8 x 52½ in.

Cool Finds

This Renaissance Painting of Fruit Holds a Modern-Day Science Lesson

Hint: it’s in the watermelon

August 6, 2015

Cool Finds

In Mexico, a Gritty Neighborhood Has Become a 65,000-Square-Foot Mural

A hillside in Pachuca gets a psychedelic makeover

July 28, 2015

Inside of the labyrinth, along one of the bamboo corridors.

Get Lost in the World’s Largest Maze

Ponder existence while wandering through the bamboo stalks of Italy’s Masone Labyrinth

July 16, 2015

Visitors at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., can take a trip to the seaside inside.

Urban Explorations

Washington D.C. Just Got a 10,000 Square Foot Ball Pit

A giant ball pit exhibit allows National Building Museum visitors to experience an indoor ocean

July 9, 2015

Researchers discovered a red ochre- and milk-based paint on a stone flake from 49,000 years ago.

New Research

In South Africa, People Painted with Cow Milk Long Before They Domesticated Cattle

The need to hunt wild cow relatives would have made this paint valuable

July 9, 2015

The "Queer Threads" exhibition, which ran in early 2014, examined the diversity of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer experiences.

Urban Explorations

What it Took to Create the World’s First Gay Art Museum

Charles Leslie’s passionate half-century of homoerotic art collecting offers a mirror for the history of gay history itself

July 7, 2015

Digital artist Jeremy Sutton's finished painting captured the many elements of the event.

This Is How You Live Paint an Event

Artist Jeremy Sutton painted on his iPad while musicians performed and visitors played virtual reality games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

July 7, 2015

A drone shot of the Harvest Dome 2.0, sinking over a sunken ship in Gowanus Canal

Urban Explorations

A Sculpture Meant to Celebrate the Renewal of the Gowanus Canal Just Got Caught on Trash and Sank

R.I.P. Harvest Dome 2.0

July 3, 2015

The Jazz pattern that graced paper cups, like this one in the 1990s, remains a source of fascination in pop culture.

Cool Finds

How the Internet Tracked Down the Designer of the Beloved Jazz Paper Cup

Meet Gina, the woman behind the iconic paper cup pattern

July 1, 2015

A rendering of the installation, which officially launches June 28. Seventeen artist-made stars will glow each night in a constellation above an abandoned castle.

Urban Explorations

An Abandoned Island Now Glows Star-Bright Under a New Constellation

Artist Melissa McGill creates a luminous public art project above a ruined castle on a mysterious piece of land in the Hudson River

June 26, 2015

Hitler's signature on one of his watercolors.

A collection of Hitler’s paintings just sold for $450,000

June 25, 2015

A photograph of Claude Monet in his gardens circa 1917

Cool Finds

An Art Dealer Just Found a Forgotten Monet Pastel Hidden Behind Another Drawing

The pastel depicts a lighthouse and jetty near Monet’s childhood home

June 25, 2015

According to some scholars Vincent Van Gogh sits third from the left in this photograph. Surrounding him are artist Emile Bernard, politician Félix Jobbé-Duval, actor André Antoine and artist Paul Gauguin.

Cool Finds

Is This a Photograph of Vincent Van Gogh?

Some scholars think the camera shy artist can be spotted in an image taken by an amateur photographer, while others disagree

June 24, 2015

Artist Jeff Koons admires his Puppy (1992). Carpeted in colorful swaths of flowering plants, the 41-foot-tall Westie joined the Guggenheim Bilbao’s permanent collection in 1997 and stands in the square just outside the museum entrance.

Shine On: Jeff Koons in Bilbao

Frank Gehry’s titanium-clad Guggenheim plays host to a stunning survey of Koons’s larger-than-life career

June 19, 2015

Allis Markham puts the finishing touches to her entries at the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Springfield, Missouri, on May 6.

Why Taxidermy Is Being Revived for the 21st Century

A new generation of young practitioners is leading a resurgence in this centuries-old craft

June 19, 2015

The algorithm ranked the "The Scream" by Edvard Munch as a highly creative work of its time.

New Research

History’s Most Creative Paintings, As Picked by a Computer

Some masters got snubbed

June 18, 2015

Afghan men stand near the ruins of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Cool Finds

Destroyed Buddha Statues Are Coming Back to Life in Afghanistan as Beautiful 3D Projections

3D light projections recreate a pair of statues destroyed by the Taliban

June 16, 2015

Filthy Lucre, 2013-2014, by Darren Waterston, MASS MoCA installation

Urban Explorations

Whistler’s Peacock Room is Reimagined in a State of Oozing and Broken Decay

In Filthy Lucre, a new installation at the Sackler Gallery, artist Darren Waterston deconstructs Whistler’s masterpiece

June 5, 2015