Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Portraiture

Wales' National Museum in Cardiff, where an artist quietly hung an A.I.-generated work on a gallery wall in October

Artist Sneaks Framed A.I. Portrait and Accompanying Label Onto a Museum’s Gallery Wall

The artificial-intelligence-generated image hung in Wales’ National Museum in Cardiff for a few hours before staffers and museumgoers noticed its presence

Frida Kahlo painted The Dream (The Bed) in 1940 during a period of “intense personal trauma and creative renewal,” according to Sotheby's.

This Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Could Become the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Sold at Auction

“The Dream (The Bed)” will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in November. Experts say it could fetch between $40 million and $60 million

A portrait of Johanna Koerten, whose "thread painting" for the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I sold for more money than Rembrandt's The Night Watch, one of the most famous artworks of all time

This 17th-Century Female Artist Was Once a Bigger Star Than Rembrandt. Why Did History Forget About Johanna Koerten and Her Peers?

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights 40 women who found fame in the Low Countries between 1600 and 1750, including Koerten, Judith Leyster and Clara Peeters

Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy (1968) was David Hockney's first entry in his famed double portrait series.

The First of David Hockney’s Famous Double Portraits Is Heading to Auction

Featuring English novelist Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Bachardy, the painting is one of Hockney’s most celebrated

Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), Pablo Picasso, 1943

This Forgotten Picasso Painting Just Emerged From the Shadows for the First Time Since 1944

“Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar),” a poignant portrait of the Spanish artist’s lover and muse, had been in private hands for eight decades

The portrait is dated to 1844, making it the oldest known portrait of Davidge.

Cool Finds

A Rare Portrait of Maryland’s Medical Hero Was Rediscovered in a Mussels Joint

The painting depicts John Beale Davidge, a physician known for his ideas about yellow fever and founding the University of Maryland School of Medicine

More than 450 of Arbus' pictures are on view in the Park Avenue Armory, a former National Guard hall.

Diane Arbus’ Largest-Ever Retrospective Features Photographs of Society’s Celebrated and Marginalized Figures

With 454 images arranged with as little order as possible, viewers are encouraged to wander and make their own observations—much like Arbus did on the streets of New York

After the rain, storm clouds continue to hover above a windmill as a rainbow signals the return of the sun.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 15 Photos of Striking Landscapes and Lively Scenes Deep in the Heart of Texas

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest remind us what makes the Lone Star State so special

Marguerite Endormie, Henri Matisse, 1920

Meet Marguerite, Henri Matisse’s Eldest Daughter—and One of His Most Influential Models

An exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris examines Marguerite’s indelible influence on her father’s evolving painting styles

An 18th-Century Family, Joy Labinjo, 2022

New Exhibition Features Contemporary Portraits Honoring Forgotten Black Abolitionists

Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum is spotlighting the men and women who fought to end slavery but received little attention from artists during their lifetimes

The authenticity of Paul Gauguin's 1903 self-portrait has long been the subject of debate.

This Amateur Art Detective Thinks Paul Gauguin’s Last Self-Portrait Is a Fake

The new allegations come from Fabrice Fourmanoir, who previously identified a fraudulent Gauguin sculpture that the Getty Museum had purchased for $5 million

A close-up view of Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci, which depicts a famed Florentine poet

Meet the Mysterious Renaissance Muse Immortalized in the Only Leonardo da Vinci Painting in the Americas

Ginevra de’ Benci was a poet famed for her beauty and intellect. But art historians know little about her beyond the writings and artworks left behind by the men who admired her

A bouquet inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Undergrowth with Two Figures

Artists Across America Are Creating Stunning Floral Arrangements Inspired by Paintings, Sculptures and Artifacts

At “Art in Bloom” exhibitions, museums commission custom floral arrangements to go on display alongside items in their collections

Elisabeth was adept at crafting a persona that may not have promoted her standing in the Viennese court but certainly helped shape the public’s perspective of her to this day.

Based on a True Story

The Many Myths of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the 19th-Century Royal Whose Beauty and Tragic Death Transformed Her Into a Legend

The reluctant empress known as “Sisi” painstakingly crafted her image through portraits and photographs, ensuring she would be remembered in a specific way

Cassandra Austen's 1795 hand-drawn copy of a plate from a 1786 drawing instruction manual

See the Forgotten Paintings Made by Jane Austen’s Older Sister, Cassandra

A new exhibition at the Jane Austen House in England includes six artworks that are going on public display for the first time

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg was among the 2025 recipients of the Portrait of a Nation Award.

Meet This Year’s Winners of the Portrait of a Nation Award, Including Steven Spielberg and Temple Grandin

Portraits of the honorees, who have made “transformative contributions to the United States,” will be added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery

The Brooch, Edvard Munch, 1902

Edvard Munch Is Known as the Painter of ‘The Scream.’ His Many Haunting Portraits Show That He Was Much More Than His Masterpiece

Through 45 artworks made between the 1880s and the 1920s, a new exhibition spotlights the Norwegian artist’s sometimes divisive style of portraiture

Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, Gustav Klimt, 1897

Cool Finds

This Dusty Painting Turned Out to Be Gustav Klimt’s Long-Lost Portrait of an African Prince

Experts think the renowned Austrian Symbolist painted the artwork in 1897. An art gallery in Vienna has priced it at $16 million

Postman Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Why Did Vincent van Gogh Paint 26 Portraits of a Postman and His Family While Staying in the South of France?

The artist met Joseph Roulin, a 47-year-old postal worker, in the late 1880s. The series of artworks will be reunited at upcoming exhibitions in Boston and Amsterdam

Curator Katherine Carter with the restored Marlborough portrait in Chartwell's main staircase

Restoration Reveals the Secrets of One of Winston Churchill’s Most Beloved Paintings

Long thought to be a family heirloom, the artwork was actually gifted to the British prime minister in 1942 during the darkest days of World War II

Page 2 of 13