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Exhibitions

The famed circular staircase at the Vatican Museums

Following Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical, the Vatican Announces a New Art Triennial Celebrating Human Creativity and Empathy in the Age of A.I.

More than 100 artists will showcase their art on four continents as the Catholic Church continues to emphasize human creativity and relationships over artificial intelligence tools

Gunther von Hagens wearing his signature black fedora

This Man Turned Human Corpses Into Popular Museum Displays. Now, the Creator of These Controversial ‘Body Worlds’ Has Donated His Own Body to Science

Gunther von Hagens, who invented plastination, a method of preserving bodies by replacing their natural fluids with polymers, recently died at age 81

The "Jane!" exhibition is on view at the Cantor Arts Center through May 18, 2028.

Women Who Shaped History

Stanford University’s Founding Matriarch Was a Travel-Loving Philanthropist Who Met a Tragic End. A New Exhibition Explores Her Life, Grief and Death by Poison

Jane Stanford’s legacy is the focus of a new showcase at the California university. The display features artifacts that have never previously been exhibited

La Lampe philosophique (The Philosopher’s Lamp), René Magritte, 1936

Wacky, Mysterious Paintings by This Surrealist Still Influence Contemporary Artists. An Exhibition in London Will Explore the Legacy of René Magritte

The Belgian Surrealist was famous for his playful subversion, like when he created a painting of a pipe and then defiantly declared it wasn’t a pipe, after all

The facial reconstruction of a man the team named Respectus

Their Names Were Lost to History. But Now, You Can See What Their Faces May Have Looked Like When They Lived in a Roman-Era City Nearly 2,000 Years Ago

A new exhibition in Budapest features 16 facial reconstructions based on skulls excavated from the ancient city of Aquincum. Curators don’t know the details of their lives, but they’ve invented backstories to fill in the gaps

Adam Francis Plummer began this diary in 1841 while enslaved in Prince George's County, Maryland. After his death, his daughter Nellie Arnold Plummer continued the diary.

This 19th-Century Diary Written by an Enslaved Maryland Man Is a Crucial Record of His Life and Family History—and the Only One of Its Kind Found in the United States

Adam Francis Plummer’s chronicle is believed to be the country’s sole known example of a multigenerational journal begun by an enslaved person. It’s now on view at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier, printed between 1835 and 1856, depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is on display in the new exhibition.

America's 250th Anniversary

Thomas Jefferson’s Original Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence Can Now Be Seen at the Library of Congress

The new exhibition, which shows how the document was edited, also features an early copy of the Gettysburg Address

A Rothko painting beside a mural by Fra Angelico at the Museum of San Marco

Puzzled by Mark Rothko’s Captivating Color Field Paintings? Look to the Renaissance Masters Who Inspired Him

During trips to Europe, the American painter developed a fascination with how 15th- and 16th-century artists and architects had designed their work to evoke specific feelings

An image of Skylab captured by its final crew as they departed. During launch, one of the solar array wings broke off, and the gold sheet at the center was quickly manufactured afterward to serve as a makeshift sunshield and control the internal temperature.

America’s First Space Station Proved Humans Could Live and Work in Orbit for Months. Now, the Public Can See What It Looked Like in Person for the First Time in Eight Years

A backup version of Skylab was displayed when the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum opened 50 years ago. After renovation of the building, the artifact is once more on view in a new gallery

Mastarna (Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome) frees Celio Vibenna from chains in this fresco from the Francois Tomb.

See These Ancient Etruscan Frescoes That Italy Bought for Millions and Put on Public Display in Rome

Found in a burial chamber, the artworks depict battles between ancient heroes in the Mediterranean world

A circa 1846 photo of the Patent Office Building

This Building Hosted Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball and Displayed the Declaration of Independence. Today, It’s Home to Two World-Class Art Museums

The Old Patent Office Building now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. A new exhibition spotlights the structure’s rich history of encouraging innovation

How an ebonyshell mussel becomes a button

How One German Button Maker Searched the Rivers of the American Midwest for the Shells That Could Make Him a Fortune

John Boepple settled in Muscatine, Iowa, where he produced pearl buttons made from freshwater mussel shells. His innovations brought economic prosperity to the town—and disaster to the local mussel populations

With the letter, George Washington accepted British surrender at Yorktown, paving the way for American independence. 

America's 250th Anniversary

A Letter Signed by George Washington That Helped Pave the Way for American Independence Goes on Display in London

Washington dictated and signed the letter in October 1781 to formally accept the British surrender at Yorktown, writing of his “ardent desire to spare the further effusion of blood”

A black-and-white photograph from the 1910s of a girl named Gladys by Hooks Brothers Studio in Memphis

This Photography Studio Captured the Beauty of Black Life in the South. Soon Its Archive, Once Hidden Away, Will Have a New Museum Home

The Hooks brothers documented life and joy in Memphis during the 20th century. Their images will be put on public view when the Memphis Art Museum opens

Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards, Bonifacio Bembo

See Visions of the Past and Future in This New York City Exhibition on the Renaissance Roots of Tarot Cards

The Morgan Library & Museum traces the history of beautifully illustrated tarot cards from their origins as a card game to modern occult fascination

The Dance of Death, a 16th-century artwork by an anonymous German artist

See the Human Body Morph Into Musical Instruments From Around the World at a New Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A belly turns into a drum, hands mold into percussion tools and a face adorns a brass bell in this anatomical art history show

Workers recovered this cannon from the Savannah River in 2022.

Cool Finds

Workers Dredging the Savannah River Stumbled Upon 19 Cannons That Had Been Underwater Since the Revolutionary War

The centuries-old artifacts emerged from the riverbed between 2021 and 2022. Experts spent several years carefully restoring 17 of them, which will make their public debut in a new exhibition

The Roman brooch was found near Pathhead.

Cool Finds

This Rare, Intricate Brooch Represents the Roman Empire’s Long, Disjointed Attempt to Conquer Scotland

The “miniature masterpiece” will go on display during an upcoming exhibition focused on the legacy Rome left in the highlands the empire dubbed Caledonia

The exhibition includes 14 original mural panels and two recreations.

See the Rescued and Restored ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Mural Painted for Sick Children at a New York Hospital

Abram Champanier’s “Alice of Wonderland Visiting New York” was a commission from the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program that championed American art in public spaces

This painting, titled Excelsior, shows Liberty and Justice as allegorical figures. A new exhibition “moves past symbolism to center the real expertise and labor of women who navigated a world of blurred allegiances to help found the United States,” says Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New York Historical.

America's 250th Anniversary

During the Revolution, American Women Fought for Freedom, Spied on the British, Cared for the Sick and Fell in Love. A New Exhibition Reveals Their Rich Wartime Stories

Now on view at the New York Historical, “Revolutionary Women” spotlights figures with connections to the state, including a Jewish chocolatier, a Mohawk leader and a woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist in the Continental Army

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