Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Art

The Climate Clock is on display in Manhattan's Union Square as part of the city's Climate Week.

Art Meets Science

Clock in New York Counts Down the Time Remaining to Avert Climate Disaster

The installation began its count down on September 17 with seven years, 103 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds

Art Hiding in New York is a new book by Lori Zimmer featuring 100 pieces of artwork hidden around New York City.

Eight Works of Art Hiding in New York City

In her new book, author Lori Zimmer reveals some of the city’s best art pieces not found in museums

A mid-1970s painting by illustrator Rick Guidice depicts an extraterrestrial colony designed by Princeton University physicist Gerard O'Neill.

How NASA Marketed Its Space Program With Fantastical Depictions of the Future

When it came to exploring the stars, Americans had to see it to believe in it

“It’s not a banana, it’s a concept,” artist David Datuna told reporters after plucking the $120,000 fruit off the wall and eating it. “I just ate the concept of the artist.”

The Infamous Art Basel Banana Is Headed to the Guggenheim

Maurizio Cattelan’s 2019 artwork will join the collections of one of the world’s preeminent cultural institutions

Devadatta (Daibadatta), appearance of evil spirits with supernatural arts shows an evildoer who holds sway over a variety of evil spirits.

You Can Now Explore 103 ‘Lost’ Hokusai Drawings Online

Newly acquired by the British Museum, the trove of illustrations dates to 1829

Are there other imaging agents hiding in plain sight?

Innovation for Good

Could Tattoo Ink Be Used to Detect Cancer?

A new study on medical imaging agents shows common pigments and dyes could help with early diagnosis

Los Machos rock shelter and schematic rock art panel

New Research

Fingerprint Analysis Reveals New Insights on Prehistoric Rock Art’s Creators

Study suggests an adult man and a juvenile girl crafted the red ocher paintings seen at Spain’s Los Machos rock shelter

None

Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt: The Man History Forgot

Rediscover the 19th-century naturalist who traveled on four continents, wrote 2,500 letters, 36 books and hugely influenced early America

The Virtual Online Museum of Art (VOMA) features art by global artists, including "Pinga," a powder-coated steel sculpture by Misha Milovanovich.

Education During Coronavirus

The World’s First Entirely Virtual Art Museum Is Open for Visitors

VOMA—the Virtual Online Museum of Art—is a free and fully immersive art experience

Poultney Bigelow. Sketch by Poultney Bigelow for Edith Weir (detail), 1884 April 18. Weir family papers.

Smithsonian Voices

Important Hudson River School Archive Is Now Fully Digitized

Prominent artists like Edwin Austin Abbey, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Eastman Johnson are featured in the Weir Family Papers

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890-1, is one of 25 in a series by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, who frequently created similar depictions of a single subject in different lights, seasons and atmospheres.

How Chicago Became a Monet Destination

A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago explores the Impressionist painter’s connection to the Midwestern city

The Golden Coach, as seen during Budget Day celebrations in 2011

Why Is the Dutch Royal Family’s Golden Carriage So Controversial?

Critics say the coach, which is set to go on view at a museum next June, features racist, colonialist imagery

Heian Period Cats

Japan’s Love-Hate Relationship With Cats

From shapeshifters to demonic corpse eaters, supernatural cats have roamed for centuries in the country’s folklore

Patricia Marroquin Norby will serve as the museum's inaugural associate curator of Native American art.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Hires First Full-Time Curator of Native American Art

Patricia Marroquin Norby previously worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian–New York

The museum's CEO emeritus, John Guess Jr., stands in front of the newly installed Spirit of the Confederacy sculpture.

Why the Houston Museum of African American Culture Is Displaying a Confederate Statue

The institution describes the move, which arrives amid a reckoning on the U.S.’ history of systemic racism, as “part of healing”

Photograph of Chiura Obata teaching a children's art class at Tanforan Art School, 1942 / unidentified photographer.

Smithsonian Voices

The Papers of Artist Chiura Obata Chronicle Life Inside World War II Incarceration Camps

At the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the artist’s story is one of resilience amidst the upheaval

This Andy Warhol print of Haring (left) and his lover Juan DuBose is expected to fetch around $250,000.

Keith Haring’s Personal Art Collection Is Up for Auction

Sotheby’s sale features works by Warhol, Basquiat, Lichtenstein and other members of the graffiti artist’s circle

This month's selections include A Traitor to His Species, The Tsarina's Lost Treasure and The Daughters of Yalta.

Books of the Month

Catherine the Great’s Lost Treasure, the Rise of Animal Rights and Other New Books to Read

These five September releases may have been lost in the news cycle

Beets can be used to dye fabric red or pink.

How to Make Clothing Dye With Excess Fruits and Vegetables From Your Garden

Here are step-by-step instructions for giving your clothes and food scraps a second life

Mural of George Floyd on Israel’s illegal separation wall, seen in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.

How the Death of George Floyd Sparked a Street Art Movement

A group of Minnesota faculty and students is documenting and archiving the phenomenon

Page 77 of 166