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Artists

The insect, which is barely visible to the naked eye, was probably dead by the time it landed on van Gogh's canvas.

Cool Finds

How Did This Grasshopper End Up Trapped in a Vincent van Gogh Painting?

New research offers insights on “Olive Trees” (1889), including the story of the hapless insect trapped on its thickly painted surface

Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days, a non-fungible token, or an entirely digital work, will go up for auction at Christie's later this month.

Entirely Digital Artwork Sells for Record-Breaking $69 Million

The sale marks the third-highest auction price achieved by a living artist

Staff hang a work by Rachel Ruysch in the Amsterdam museum's Gallery of Honour on March 8, 2021.

For the First Time in Its 200-Year History, the Rijksmuseum Features Women Artists in ‘Gallery of Honour’

The Amsterdam institution is spotlighting works by Dutch Golden Age painters Judith Leyster, Gesina ter Borch and Rachel Ruysch

Alexander Calder checks some of his mobiles during a 1962 exhibition of his work at Tate London.

Education During Coronavirus

Explore the Newly Digitized Archive of Alexander Calder, Famed ‘Sculptor of Air’

A new online trove from the Calder Foundation offers fans endless avenues to learn about the artist’s life and work

Vincent van Gogh, Field With Irises Near Arles, 1888

How the ‘Ecstatic Joy of Nature’ Unites Vincent van Gogh and David Hockney

Houston exhibition marks the first time the famed artists have been shown side by side in an American museum

A descendant of art collector John Skippe donated the painting to the parish in 1909.

Cool Finds

Forgotten Last Supper Scene Linked to Renaissance Master Titian Spent Century Hidden in Plain Sight

Researchers spotted the artist’s signature, among other clues to the 16th-century painting’s provenance, on the canvas

Five months after a missing panel from Jacob Lawrence's Struggle series resurfaced, a second long-lost painting by the artist—pictured here in 1957—has been found.

Cool Finds

Another Long-Lost Jacob Lawrence Painting Resurfaces in Manhattan

Inspired by the recent discovery of a related panel, a nurse realized that the missing artwork had hung in her house for decades

Vincent van Gogh, Scène de rue à Montmartre (Impasse des Deux Frères et le Moulin à Poivre), 1887

Rare Vincent van Gogh Landscape Will Go on View to the Public for the First Time

Housed in a private collection for the past century, the 1887 painting of a Parisian windmill is set to go on auction next month

Researchers used infrared photography to take a closer look at a sentence scrawled on Edvard Munch's The Scream.

New Research

Who Scribbled This Cryptic Graffiti on ‘The Scream’?

New research suggests that the painting’s artist, Edvard Munch, wrote the secret message around 1895

While her paintings eventually became entirely abstract, Bongé's earlier work included lively port scenes and Cubist-inspired still-lifes (Sunflowers and Squash, 1944).

A New Exhibition Brings Artist Dusti Bongé Into the Light

The overlooked Mississippi painter’s strong connection to the South infused her work

The Bayeux Tapestry dramatizes William the Conqueror's victory over Harold Godwinson in 1066.

Explore Every Stitch of the Famed Bayeux Tapestry Online

Viewers can peruse a high-resolution image of the 224-foot medieval masterpiece, which chronicles the 1066 conquest of England

Making the Most: In the Studio with Julia Kwon

Smithsonian Voices

Artist Julia Kwon Talks About Her Face Mask Project ‘Unapologetically Asian’

Julia Kwon’s interactive art projects facilitate solidarity and community

Musician Lara Downes aims to highlight the work of composers like Harry T. Burleigh, photographed c. 1938.

How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music

A new project seeks to elevate artists like Harry T. Burleigh and Florence Price, whose work has been ignored by white audiences

Two studies, including one conducted by scholars at the Louvre, suggest that Leonardo—or another artist entirely—added Christ's hands and arms to the painting at a later point.

New Research Suggests ‘Salvator Mundi’ Originally Looked Completely Different

Two separate studies posit that Leonardo da Vinci’s initial composition only featured Christ’s head and shoulders

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665

Art Meets Science

Ten-Billion-Pixel Image Shows Every Inch of Vermeer’s ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’

A new tool from the Mauritshuis offers viewers a close-up look at every fine crack and brushstroke

Young Man Holding a Roundel is one of just three Sandro Botticelli portraits housed in a private collection.

One of the Last Privately Owned Botticelli Portraits Just Sold for $92 Million

The 15th-century painting, which went up for auction at Sotheby’s Thursday, depicts a young Florentine man

Author, teacher and certified genealogical lecturer LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson will share best practices in using probate and other estate records to research enslaved ancestors.

Kick Off Black History Month With Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain and a Host of Other Events

Join Smithsonian’s NMAAHC for book talks, kid programs, artist meetups and a STEM Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon

Xavier Viramontes, Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farm Workers Union, 1973, offset lithograph on paper

Smithsonian Voices

Curators Weigh In on the Making of the Landmark Exhibition ‘Printing the Revolution!’

Exploring the origins of the exhibition that combines innovative printmaking practices with social justice

Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Rainbow, 1859, oil on canvas

Smithsonian Voices

A Curator Decodes the Powerful Messaging in This Landscape Painting

Curator Eleanor Harvey shares the story of Robert Duncanson and his artwork

Soil samples collected throughout the western United States show the wide variety of minerals and colors belowground.

Art Meets Science

Meet the Soil Scientists Using Dirt to Make Stunning Paints

Professors in California and Wyoming use the unique palettes to teach geology

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