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Artists

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

A screenshot of the new V&A; digital tool, which allows viewers to explore high-resolution scans of Raphael's cartoons for his Sistine Chapel tapestry sequence. Here, Jesus speaks to Simon in The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Luke 5: 1-11).

New Online Tool Reveals Raphael’s Sistine Chapel Cartoons in Stunning Detail

High-resolution scans from the V&A offer an unprecedented view of the Renaissance drawings, down to every last line and wrinkle

Authorities recovered a copy (right) of Salvator Mundi from a Naples man's apartment. Attributed to the school of Leonardo, the work dates to around 1508–1513.

Stolen Copy of ‘Salvator Mundi’ Found Stashed in Naples Cupboard

The museum that owns the 16th-century painting hadn’t even realized the work—attributed to the school of Leonardo—was missing

Artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons spearheaded the creation of When We Gather, a three-minute short film marking Harris' inauguration.

How Seven Women Artists Are Celebrating Kamala Harris’ Historic Inauguration

The group’s upcoming short film, titled “When We Gather,” honors the achievements of women who preceded the vice president

A rendering of by Hank Willis Thomas' The Embrace, a public memorial set to be unveiled in the Boston Commons in October 2022

Monument to Coretta Scott and MLK Is Coming to Boston, City Where They Met

Hank Willis Thomas’ sculpture of intertwined arms will memorialize the civil rights leaders and their fight for racial equality

YInMn Blue derives its name from its chemical components: yttrium, indium and manganese.

Art Meets Science

For the First Time in 200 Years, a New Blue Pigment Is Up for Sale

Researchers discovered YInMn Blue in 2009. Now, you can purchase a tiny tube of the bright blue paint for $179.40

The original cover design for Hergé's The Blue Lotus(1936) sold at auction for a record-breaking price on Thursday. The gouache and watercolor drawing was kept folded in a drawer for many years, and the lines where the work was folded are still visible.

Tintin Drawing Sold for €3.2 Million Is the World’s Most Expensive Comic Book Art

The original cover design for Hergé’s “The Blue Lotus” spent decades tucked away in a drawer

The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City, a 1931 mural by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, resides in an exhibition space in the San Francisco Art Institute. In a precarious financial position, the school has reportedly considered selling the mural for an estimated $50 million.

Why a California School’s Potential Sale of Diego Rivera Mural Is So Controversial

Local officials are seeking landmark designation for the 1931 artwork, likely blocking the San Francisco Art Institute’s plan

Every mark in Robert McCurdy’s portraits, above: Untitled (The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso), is meticulously rendered from the baby hairs that frame his subjects’ temples to the crow’s feet that border their eyes.

Why Robert McCurdy’s Photo-Realist Portraits Stop Viewers in Their Tracks

The key to these singular portraits of influential leaders of our time rests in the gaze and the exacting details of the clothing

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