Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts

William Zachs stands before the Henry Raeburn and Alexander Nasmyth portraits, now on display together at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Missing Robert Burns Painting Has Finally Been Solved—After 200 Years of Searches and Seances

The portrait of the renowned Scottish poet vanished without a trace in 1840. Since then, scholars and sleuths alike have been strategizing about how to get it back

The mural will be on view for a brief five-week period during the Winter Olympics before closing again for 18 months of restoration.

This Magnificent Mural by Leonardo da Vinci Will Go on Display for a Brief Window During the Winter Olympics in Milan

Guided tours will take visitors onto scaffolding to view the rare artwork inside Sforza Castle, which is currently undergoing restorations

Students with the 4-H Club of Dauphin County gathered inside the refrigerated display room at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center to carefully break down the sculpture.

What Happened to This 1,000-Pound Butter Sculpture After the Crowds Melted Away?

At the end of the 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show, volunteers and students carefully dismantled the creamy masterpiece so it could be used to produce renewable energy for local homes

Dimitris Economou returned this copy of Harry the Dirty Dog 36 years after his parents checked it out.

Cool Finds

A Little Boy’s Library Book Was Due in 1989. Thirty-Six Years Later, He Realized His Parents Had Never Returned It

After finding “Harry the Dirty Dog” at his dad’s home in Greece, Dimitris Economou brought it back to the library in Virginia where his family had checked it out more than three decades earlier

Frida on a White Bench, New York by Nickolas Muray surrounded by merchandise inspired by the image

Frida Kahlo’s Image Is on Paintings, Posters, Socks and Sanitary Pads. How Did Fridamania Come to Dominate Popular Culture?

An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston features paintings by Kahlo, works by artists she inspired and consumer products featuring her self-portraits

Erin and Anyah With Hydrangeas, LaToya Hobbs, acrylic and decorative paper on carved wood, 2023

See the Stunning Artworks by the Winners and Featured Artists of This Boundary-Pushing National Portrait Competition

The seventh edition of the triennial Outwin Boochever contest showcases contemporary artists’ novel approaches to their subjects

The new miniature Sphere at National Harbor would have 6,000 seats.

A Smaller Version of the Las Vegas Sphere May Be Coming to the Washington, D.C. Area

Officials have proposed building a mini-Sphere in Maryland’s National Harbor. One-third the size of the original, the structure would cost about $1 billion

A historic marker at Jackson State University, ca. 1950, from the “At the Vanguard” exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

How Historically Black Schools Create and Preserve Their Own History Through Amazing Artifacts, From Paintings to Marching Band Hats

For nearly 200 years, HBCUs have educated Black Americans. Now, a new exhibition highlights special objects from five universities

Traces of the hand stencil are still visible among younger works of art.

New Research

Can You See the Faded Outline of a Hand? Archaeologists Say This 67,800-Year-Old Stencil May Be the World’s Oldest Known Rock Art

The prehistoric artist likely created the image by spraying ochre mixed with water over a hand flattened on the wall of a cave in Indonesia

The four watches, which borrow from 20th-century paintings, are the latest art-inspired products from the Swiss company Swatch.

See How These Wristwatches Reimagine Famous Masterpieces by Claude Monet, Jackson Pollock, Edgar Degas and Paul Klee

The Swiss watchmaker Swatch has partnered with the Guggenheim to create a collection inspired by 20th-century artworks from the Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist movements

A rendering of the planned Rijksmuseum sculpture garden

A Sprawling Sculpture Garden Featuring Modern Masterpieces Is Coming to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

The new space will feature artworks by the likes of Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois and Alexander Calder. Officials say it will be free for anyone to visit

Portraits of Oscar Wilde taken in New York in 1882

Oscar Wilde’s Portraits, Poems, Letters and Manuscripts Head to Auction 125 Years After His Death

Other rare items, available for purchase in February, include illustrations, theater programs, telegrams and newspapers

Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length

Trending Today

You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, 1434

All Nine of Jan van Eyck’s Surviving Portraits Are Coming Together for the Very First Time in History

The Northern Renaissance painter’s innovative techniques altered the course of art history. An upcoming exhibition in London brings together his 15th-century portraits from collections across Europe

A Gibson girl illustration for Life magazine by Charles Dana Gibson, circa 1906

Who Was the Inspiration Behind the ‘Gibson Girl’ Illustrations? The Artist Said She Was Every Woman

Charles Dana Gibson’s archetype became the original American “it girl” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and helped transform fashion and beauty

When the portrait of the man is flipped upside down, a woman's face is visible in his beard.

Could This Portrait of an Elderly Man With a Young Woman’s Face Hidden in His Beard Be a Long-Lost Study by Peter Paul Rubens?

When a dealer saw the unsigned painting at auction, he wondered if it might be an original piece by the renowned 17th-century Flemish artist. Experts are divided on the work’s attribution

Bowie lived in the two-story house between 1955 and 1967.

You Can Soon Step Inside David Bowie’s Childhood Bedroom, Restored to the Way It Looked When He Was 16

The musician’s former home in south London is scheduled to open to the public in late 2027 following an extensive restoration, which will transport visitors back in time to 1963

Inky paw prints on a 15th-century Flemish manuscript

A Cat Left Paw Prints on the Pages of This Medieval Manuscript When the Ink Was Drying 500 Years Ago

An exhibition called “Paws on Parchment” tracks how cats were depicted in the Middle Ages through texts and artworks from around the world—including one example of a 15th-century “keyboard cat”

The Hornet's Nest, Jimmy Carter, 2003

You Can Buy President Jimmy Carter’s Paintings, Furniture, Mementos and a Love Letter to His Wife

Christie’s selected the items with help from the president’s daughter, Amy, for a special sale in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday

The company plans to offer tours of its new headquarters, giving members of the public a chance to see the sculpture.

Cool Finds

Forgotten for Decades in a Dusty Mall Basement, a Long-Lost Harry Bertoia Sculpture Is Back on Display

The untitled 26-foot-tall piece now hangs in the seven-story atrium of General Motors’ new global headquarters, in Detroit

Page 5 of 67