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Painters

Bernardo de Gálvez by José Nicolás de la Escalera on display in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition “Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900.”

This Spanish Officer Besieged the British During the American Revolution, Giving George Washington Time to Plan a Pivotal Attack

Bernardo de Gálvez indirectly contributed to the Continental Army’s victory at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. A rare painting of him is now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery

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

Detail of Rembrandt's Let the Little Children Come Unto Me

Rembrandt Began a Biblical Painting. Another Artist Finished It ‘Rather Crudely.’ Now, Restorations Have Revealed the Long-Lost Original

An art dealer stumbled across “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” at a German auction house in 2014. Experts have now carefully removed layers of overpaint from the forgotten masterpiece

The project is set to take about five years.

The Hall of Raphael Frescoes in the Pope’s Residence at the Vatican Is Getting a Much-Needed Restoration With the Help of Lasers

Conservators will spend the next five years cleaning and retouching the Renaissance frescoes, which date back to the early 16th century

Guests examine artwork at Museo Picasso Málaga.

A Stolen Picasso Just Turned Up During a Drug Raid Near Paris, Reportedly Taken From a Storage Facility

The painting has been authenticated but not revealed. Reports suggest it is one of Picasso’s portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter

Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott on display ahead of a Christie's auction in 2019

Who Were the Couples That Posed for David Hockney’s Famed Double Portraits?

One of his subjects was a cousin I never knew. I wanted to learn more about the large-scale portraits that helped define the English artist’s legacy

FCB Cadell painted Interior: The Lady in Black in the 1920s.

Cool Finds

With A.I.’s Help, a Family Realized Their Mysterious Thrift-Store Find Is a Portrait by a Great Scottish Painter

The oil painting, the work of “Scottish Colorist” FCB Cadell, just sold at auction for more than $250,000

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

O’Keeffe’s New Mexico studio Ghost Ranch. Opposite, a 1918 photo portrait by future husband Alfred Stieglitz.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Georgia O’Keeffe Ignored Advice to Mimic Great European Masters. Her Goal Instead Was to Be a Great American Painter

The genius of her work was in painting things as she saw them through her own eyes. So when she surrounded herself with beauty, her work reflected it

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Smithsonian Magazine Presents: America at 250—The Revolutionary Spark

Celebrating the visionary insights & darling innovators that forged a nation.

The painted wall in 2024, enhanced on the right by a DStretch filter

Cool Finds

A Century After Causing Controversy, Red Cave Markings in Wales Are Classified Again as Britain’s Oldest Rock Art

The team of scientists used modern dating methods to confirm an old hypothesis by the rock art’s initial discoverers

Partial view of Eurasian blackbird, Missy Dunaway, acrylic ink on paper

Shakespeare Referenced Dozens of Bird Species in His Work. This Artist Has Made It Her Mission to Paint Them All

Missy Dunaway’s colorful illustrations combine natural history, folklore and literature to depict the Bard’s birds

Detail from Hilma af Klint's Retable, No. 1 (1915)

Meet Hilma af Klint, the Occultist Who Believed Otherworldly Spirits Told Her What to Paint. Now, She’s Considered One of History’s First Abstract Artists

The Swedish painter created bold, vibrant works as early as 1906—several years before contemporaries like Wassily Kandinsky. A new exhibition in France celebrates her sweeping “Paintings for the Temple” series

A detail from Jackson Pollock's Number 7A, 1948

What Did Jackson Pollock Hope to Accomplish With This Dizzying Drip Painting, Which Just Sold for a Record-Breaking $181 Million?

The Abstract Expressionist is best known for his action paintings, which emphasized the movements of the artist’s body during the creative process. “Number 7A, 1948” is now his most expensive work ever auctioned

Museumgoers can read the labels on the backs of the paintings, which may provide clues about each work's provenance.

Who Are the Owners of These Nazi-Looted Masterpieces—and Could Displaying Them at One of France’s Most Popular Museums Help Track Them Down?

A new permanent display at the Musée d’Orsay showcases artworks that may have been stolen or sold under suspicious circumstances during World War II. Officials are still hoping to find the families of their rightful owners

The Mona Lisa returning to the Louvre in 1914

Andrew Lloyd Webber Says He’s Writing a New Musical About the Time the ‘Mona Lisa’ Vanished Without a Trace in 1911

Known for spectacles like “The Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s most commercially successful composer now wants to tell the story of the world’s most famous painting

A damaged portrait of Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi (left) and a similar version of the same scene (right) housed at the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy

Rolled Up in a Cellar for Decades, This Artemisia Gentileschi Painting Is Now Up for Auction. Why Is Mary Magdalene’s Face Missing From the Portrait?

Found in Berlin, the artwork was probably damaged in the chaotic aftermath of World War II. Despite the gaping hole in the canvas, it could sell for upwards of $180,000 later this month

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring on display before the restoration

This Vincent van Gogh Painting Was Found Wrapped in an Ikea Bag and a Blood-Stained Pillow. Now, the Artwork Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory

Art sleuth Arthur Brand recovered “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” in 2023, three years after it was stolen from a Dutch museum. Following careful restoration, the canvas is now back on display

Frida Kahlo painted many self-portraits, including this piece, "Self-Portrait With Necklace," from 1933.   

Can Frida Kahlo Leave Mexico? Plans to Relocate a Trove of Paintings by the Famous Artist Spark a Heated Debate

Nearly 400 cultural heritage professionals signed an open letter protesting plans to move a collection featuring artworks by the renowned Mexican painter out of her home country

The two copies of Old Man With a Gold Chain

This Painting Was Thought to Be a Workshop Copy of a Rembrandt. Now, One Scholar Argues It’s the Real Deal

“Old Man With a Gold Chain” is on display beside a smaller copy for the first time in centuries. According to scholar Gary Schwartz, the Dutch master painted both himself

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