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Artists

Eugène Delacroix, "Crouching Woman," 1827

Art Institute of Chicago Now Offers Open Access to 44,313 Images (and Counting)

Now you can view the museum’s masterpieces without taking a flight to Chicago

Does the Same Goose Always Lead the Flying V and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

L to R: Paul Stabler, "Charles Obach" (circa 1870–79) and Jacobus de Louw, "Vincent van Gogh" (1873)

Employer Who Pushed Van Gogh to New Career Path Revealed in Studio Photo

An 1870s photograph of Charles Obach, one-time manager of the London Goupil Gallery branch, was found in the National Portrait Gallery’s collections

Untitled (Wash Day: Scrubbing the Clothes) by Clementine Hunter, ca. 1965

Self-Taught Artist Clementine Hunter Painted the Bold Hues of Southern Life

On view at NMAAHC, Hunter’s colorful artworks depict work in the field, church on Sundays, and laundry on the line

Cool Finds

To Mourn Beloved, 17-Year-Old Cat, Artist Made Genre-Spanning, Star-Studded Tribute Album

Pharrell, Bono, Laurie Anderson, Michael Stipe, The National and others penned songs for Souris, artist Sophie Calle’s animal companion

Af Klint saw herself as a “holy transcriptionist, a technician of the unknown” whose work was simply a stepping stone in the pursuit of knowledge

From Obscurity, Hilma af Klint Is Finally Being Recognized as a Pioneer of Abstract Art

Before the modernists, the Swedish painter’s monumental canvases featured free-wheeling swirls, mysterious symbols, pastel palette

Traylor's works (above: Man with Yoke, detail) are drawing fans worldwide for their exuberant modern composition and design.

Bill Traylor Depicted His Brutal Lifetime With Vibrant Art

A new Smithsonian show, seven years in the making, takes a deep dive into the life of a self-taught artist and former slave

Trending Today

Watch This $1.4 Million Banksy Painting Shred Itself As Soon As It’s Sold

The street artist hid a built-in shredder in the frame of the artwork when he created it in 2006

The Good Work film crew captures the annual re-plastering of the historic adobe morada in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

In a New Film, Master Artisans Share Their Passion for the Labors They Love

Award-winning filmmakers, Smithsonian folklorist Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner, explore impact of craft in Good Work, airing now on PBS

Ma destinée (My destiny), 1867. Brown ink and wash and white gouache on paper.

Landmark Exhibition Brings Victor Hugo’s Forgotten Drawings Into Focus

The famed French author produced some 4,000 brooding, tempestuous artworks during his lifetime

In 2015, John T. Unger embarked on a project to recreate 14 of Eustachi’s drawings in life-size mosaics.

Art Meets Science

This Artist Redefines a “Chiseled Body”

Life-size and hyper-detailed, these anatomical mosaics draw on ancient inspiration

iPad art

Westminster Abbey’s Newest Window Was Designed by David Hockney—on an iPad

It was commissioned in celebration of Elizabeth II’s reign

"Self-portrait" by Thomas Gainsborough

Did Murder Help Catalyze Thomas Gainsborough’s Early Career?

New documentary evidence suggests the famed artist’s uncle and cousin were victims of targeted killings

Cool Finds

Historian Identifies Subject of Van Gogh’s “Gardener”

The portrait is likely of a day laborer that worked on the grounds of the asylum where the troubled artist stayed near the end of his life

The unabashed depiction of violence seen in Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes" underscores its creator’s bestial inclinations

Art Meets Science

Caravaggio May Have Died of Infected Sword Wound, Not Syphilis

The Italian Old Master had a notoriously mercurial temperament and was forced to flee Rome in 1606 after killing his rival in a duel

Land Sea Sky by Sean Scully, 1999

Sean Scully’s Artworks Are a Study in Color, Horizon and Life’s Sorrows

With a return to the Hirshhorn following his 1995 retrospective, Scully presents his sublime Landlines series

SpaceX released an updated rendering of the Big Falcon Rocket launching into the solar system

Art Meets Science

Elon Musk Is Sending a Japanese Billionaire to the Moon, and He’s Taking a Group of Artists With Him

Yusaku Maezawa hopes to recruit six to eight artists for the week-long mission, which is expected to launch as early as 2023

The Artist Who Made Coloring Books Cool for Adults Returns With a New Masterpiece

Johanna Basford, whose fanciful, hand-drawn illustrations launched a worldwide craze, is back with flying colors

"Self-portrait" (1837)

Delacroix, the Visionary Romantic Artist, Gets First Major North American Retrospective

A new exhibition at the Met features nearly 150 of Delacroix’s paintings, drawings and prints

Duncan Grant’s studio

Bloomsbury Group’s Countryside Hub Opens to Visitors Year-Round

A new expansion has helped the Charleston Museum overcome conservation and space concerns that once forced it to shut down during winter

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