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Art

The Psychedelic Eye mosaic, once on the wall of the deep end of John Lennon's swimming pool, is now freestanding and up for auction.

John Lennon’s ‘Psychedelic Eye’ Swimming Pool Mosaic Goes to Auction

The famous musician commissioned the trippy mural for his home in Kenwood at the height of Beatlemania

Banksy's Migrant Child has endured damage from the elements since it appeared in 2019. 

Why Restoring a Banksy Mural in Venice Is So Controversial

Critics argue that the street artist may have intended for the work to deteriorate over time

Cimabue's Christ Mocked (circa 1280)

Cool Finds

This Forgotten Masterpiece Was Hanging Above an Elderly French Woman’s Hot Plate. Now, It’s Heading to the Louvre

The French government gave the museum 30 months to raise the funds to purchase the Cimabue painting

A drawing of a musical lion from 14th-century France

Why Is Medieval Art So Weird?

Titled “Weird Medieval Guys,” a new book examines illustrations of armless frogs, human-sized snails and more

“The World Made Wondrous: The Dutch Collector’s Cabinet and the Politics of Possession” takes a 17th-century Dutch cabinet as its starting point, tracing the threads of Dutch colonization through each object on view.

How Cabinets of Curiosities Laid the Foundation for Modern Museums

An exhibition at LACMA examines the legacy of Dutch colonization through a fictive 17th-century collector’s room of wonders

A museum visitor wears the new headset, which collects brainwave data that is used to create real-time images visualizing their response to art.

Art Meets Science

See What Your Brain Does When You Look at Art

A new device translates museum-goers’ brainwaves into a simplified real-time visualization

Pablo Picasso’s Femme à la montre (or Woman with a Watch) sold for a whopping $139.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York this month.

‘Femme à la Montre’ Becomes Second Most Expensive Picasso Ever Sold

The 1932 painting of the artist’s mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, fetched $139 at auction

An original Victorian-era photograph of the "stick man" featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV

Cool Finds

Researchers Have Finally Identified the Mystery Man on a Led Zeppelin Album Cover

Once thought to be a painting, the image of the “stick man” was hiding in a Victorian photo album in England

Before it was stolen, the toilet had been installed in a bathroom at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England.

Four Men Charged With 2019 Theft of $6 Million Gold Toilet

Titled “America,” the infamous 18-karat loo was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan

Two Just Stop Oil protesters after smashing the glass protecting Rokeby Venus at London’s National Gallery 

Climate Activists Hammer at Glass Protecting Velázquez’s ‘Rokeby Venus’

Organized by Just Stop Oil, the incident was just the latest of many protests targeting famous artworks

David Hockney paints the portrait of Harry Styles that is currently on display in the exhibition.

David Hockney Show Opens in London—and Features a New Portrait of Harry Styles

“David Hockney: Drawing from Life” returns to the National Portrait Gallery after the pandemic shut it down three years ago

Detail of the rediscovered "fiend" in Joshua Reynolds' painting The Death of Cardinal Beaufort (1789)

Hidden Demon Revealed in the Shadows of a Joshua Reynolds Painting

Conservators have restored the malignant spirit, which generated controversy among 18th-century audiences

Elton John and David Furnish pictured at home in their art gallery in Windsor, England, in 2019

See Hundreds of Photographs From Elton John and David Furnish’s Private Collection

Never-before-seen images of celebrities, performers and important moments in history are going on display in London

Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a new technique that allows artists to embed invisible “poison” into their work that misleads A.I. models.

Art Meets Science

Artists Can Use This Tool to Protect Their Work From A.I. Scraping

Nightshade subtly alters the pixels of an image to mislead A.I. image generators, ultimately damaging the models

The charcoal drawings in a secret room under the Medici Chapels Museum in Florence

Did Michelangelo Sketch These Drawings in a Secret Room Below a Florence Chapel?

For the first time, visitors will get to see the intricate sketches that some scholars attribute to the artist

Frances Mabel Hollams, Buster, Shandy and Bluett—Dalmatians, 1936

You Could Own Rare Artworks Celebrating Canine Companions

An upcoming “Dog Sale” at Bonhams Scotland features 250 paintings, sculptures and more

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

After Getting Stuck in a Sculpture at the National Gallery of Art, This Barred Owl Is Now Flying Free

The bird spent some time recuperating at two rehabilitation facilities and is now back in the wild

Artist Dan Miller works at Creative Growth Art Center, which is partnering with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Acquires More Than 100 Works by Artists With Disabilities

The purchase is one of the largest acquisitions of its kind by any museum in the United States

Jean Fouquet's Melun Diptych features two panels, Étienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen on the left, and Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels on the right.

New Research

Mysterious Stone in 15th-Century Painting Could Be a Prehistoric Tool

Jean Fouquet’s “Melun Diptych” is likely the earliest artistic representation of an Acheulean hand ax

Foundry workers disassembled Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee statue before melting it down.

Foundry Workers Melt Down Charlottesville’s Divisive Robert E. Lee Statue

Eventually, an artist will be chosen to transform the bronze bars into a public art installation

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