Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts

"A Peep into the Life of a Data Scientist"

Poo-Sniffing Peeps, Miss Ameripeep and More Emerge Victorious in #PeepYourScience 2020 Competition

Blending marshmallows with scientific rigor, the contest offers levity during a difficult time

El Tendedero/The Clothesline Project, an installation by Mónica Mayer in which women were invited to vent their frustrations about their city on a piece of pink paper

#5WomenArtists Campaign Tackles Gender Inequity for the Fifth Year in a Row

Though women make up nearly half of visual artists in the United States, they represent just 13 percent of artists in museum collections

Tempestries representing daily high temperatures in Utqiagvik, Alaska, in 1925, 2010, and 2016 (left) and Death Valley, California, in 1950 and 2016 (right)

Art Meets Science

How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft to Visualize Climate Change

In these crafters’ scarves and blankets, rows of color correspond with daily temperature

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City (1946).

Women Who Shaped History

How the U.S. Government Deployed Grandma Moses Overseas in the Cold War

In 1950, an exhibition of the famed artist’s paintings toured Europe in a promotional campaign of American culture

The tapestries depict scenes from the lives of St. Paul and St. Peter.

For One Week Only, Raphael’s Tapestries Return to the Sistine Chapel

This is the first time all 12 of the Renaissance creations have been united in their original home since the 16th century

The Scream (1893) is Edvard Munch's most renowned work.

Art Meets Science

Why Are the Vibrant Colors of ‘The Scream’ Fading?

New analysis explores why unstable synthetic pigments in the painting are changing color from yellow to white

Rembrandt's Portrait of a Woman before (left) and after (right) conservation

Pennsylvania Museum Discovers Unidentified Rembrandt Portrait in Its Collection

Conservation work revealed evidence of the artist’s hand in a painting previously attributed to a member of his studio

John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1865-66

The Women Behind the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London explores 12 women’s contributions to the male-dominated artistic circle

Gustave Courbet's Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine is one of some 100,000 artworks now freely available online.

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download Images of 100,000 Artworks From Prominent Paris Museums’ Collections

Paris Musées, which manages 14 important institutions, has released a trove of images into the public domain

X-ray analysis revealed a hidden landscape depicting the birth of Christ.

Cool Finds

Nativity Scene Discovered Beneath 16th-Century Painting of John the Baptist’s Beheading

Experts hope further examination will yield insights on the canvas’ age, background and history

Mother and daughter listen to an audio tour at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Baltimore Museum of Art Will Collect Works Exclusively by Women in 2020

“To rectify centuries of imbalance, you have to do something radical,” says museum director Christopher Bedford

Judith Leyster, The Concert, c. 1633

The Dutch Golden Age’s Female Painters Finally Receive a Show of Their Own

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights eight unheralded 17th- and 18th-century artists

A retrospective centered on artist Judy Chicago is one of the many Feminist Art Coalition exhibitions slated for fall 2020.

Fifty U.S. Museums Champion Feminist Art Ahead of 2020 Election

Curators are banding together to organize feminism-inspired exhibitions and events in fall 2020

The scene features a wounded gladiator appealing for mercy

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Bloody Gladiator Fresco in Pompeii

The scene, one of many paintings recently found in the ruins of the ancient city, depicts a defeated gladiator begging for his life

Fred Rogers, wearing his usual uniform of a cardigan and a tie, in the 1980s.

The Behind-the-Scenes Quest to Find Mister Rogers’ Signature Cardigans

The USPS, a $70 soup pot and whole lot of effort went into finding the perfect zip-up cardigan for Fred Rogers

Maurice Sendak, "Diorama of Moishe scrim
and flower proscenium (Where the Wild Things Are)," 1979-1983, watercolor, pen and ink, and graphite pencil on laminated paperboard.

See Maurice Sendak’s Little-Known Designs for the Opera and Ballet

A new exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum explores how the ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author pivoted to a career in set and costume design

Trending Today

The Penn Museum Just Floated a 12-Ton Sphinx Out a Window

Using air-dollies, the museum moved the largest sphinx in the western hemisphere 250 feet to a new entranceway

Young Thug wore a dress by designer Alessandro Trincone on the cover of his 2016 mixtape

Boston Museum Launches First Large-Scale Exhibition on Non-Binary Fashion

The show features a tuxedo worn by Marlene Dietrich, a suit worn by David Bowie and contemporary designs by Rei Kawakubo

Pop History

There Was the Magazine Quiz. Then Came the Internet. What Now?

From the “Cosmo Quiz” to Quizilla to Buzzfeed… what’s next?

Stan Lee Helped Shape the Story of What It Is to Be American

Smithsonian curator Eric Jentsch weighs into the legacy of the comic-book mastermind

Page 54 of 67