Art

We asked Smithsonian scholars to make book recommendations to our readers for this holiday season of gift giving.

Increase and Diffuse Knowledge for the Holidays With These Smithsonian Curated Books

Books recommended by Smithsonian Institution scholars

“Current” would turn the entire stretch of the river into a dynamic, multi-colored piece of art.

Ambitious New Public Art Project Will Turn the Thames Into an Illuminated Canvas

When <i>Illuminated River</i> launches in 2018, it will be the biggest such project ever undertaken

Five Colossal Stone Portraits Around the World

Carved out of rock, these massive monuments go beyond Mount Rushmore

Sonny Assu Uses Graffiti to Reassert Native Culture

The 41-year-old artist mashes decades-old depictions of indigenous peoples with modern-day style

Today, the Marsh Collection is treasured for its inherent cultural value as well as its connection to the debates that framed the Smithsonian.

American Culture’s Unlikely Debt to a British Scientist

A fortuitous influx of cash launched the Smithsonian Institution and its earliest art collection

World’s Largest Herd of Origami Elephants Takes Over the Bronx Zoo

People around the world folded the paper pachyderms to raise awareness of the elephants' plight

James Welch is featured on today's Google home page in honor of his birthday.

Google Makes Ledger Art to Celebrate Legendary Native American Author James Welch

In an exclusive interview with Smithsonian.com, artist Sophie Diao talks about what inspired today's Google Doodle

"Wedding Dance in the Open Air" Pieter Brueghel the Younger 1607-1614, oil on oak panel.

A Brueghel Painting Long Thought to Be Made by a Copyist Is Going on Display

Vindication for Pieter Brueghel the Younger

An archaeologist studies remains of the Curtain theater's foundations.

Shakespeare May Have Tailored "Henry V" for a Specific Theater

Archaeological digs at the Curtain theater suggest it looked very different from the Bard’s usual venues

"Ginzer" Kiki Smith, 2000 Aquatint, drypoint, and burnishing etching on paper. Smith placed the corpse of her cat on the plate and traced the outline to produce the image of the etching before burying him to create the etching.

A Massive Collection of Cat Art Is up for Auction

The results of an art teacher’s passion project are for sale

A forest grows in miniature at Metrotech Commons in Brooklyn for Spencer Finch’s “Lost Man Creek."

A Miniature Living Redwood Forest Springs Up In Brooklyn

Artist Spencer Finch explores landscape by building a tiny, scale replica of a California grove

Major Renaissance Painting Restored 50 Years After It Was Covered in Flood Waters

Giorgio Vasari's "Last Supper" was heavily damaged during Florence's 1966 flood. Conservationists finally figured out how to save it

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Inverleith House

Four Stunning Exhibitions From Scotland’s Recently Closed Inverleith House

After 30 years, funding cuts caused one of Edinburgh’s most popular public art galleries to shut its doors

Argentinians look on as Marta Minují's 1983 Parthenon of books is removed with a crane. The artist will recreate her installation on a grander scale in Germany next year.

An Artist Is Building a Parthenon of Banned Books

More than 100,000 books will become a monument to intellectual freedom in Germany next year

You, Too, Can Cook Like Surrealist Godfather Salvador Dalí

The painter’s erotically charged cookbook is getting a rare reprinting

A visitor to the Andy Warhol Museum experiences a Warhol print of a Coca-Cola bottle with the help of an audio app and a tactile 3D reproduction.

Visually Impaired People Can Now Explore Andy Warhol’s Work With Their Ears and Fingers

"Out Loud" adds depth to an artist obsessed with the surface of things

Five Things to Know About Evangelical Cartoonist Jack Chick

The controversial artist died after 50 years of publishing comics

Dish with copper-red glaze, and a Xuande mark in cobalt oxide on the base, China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen Ming Dynasty, Xuande reign (1426-1435)

What a Mark Rothko Painting Has in Common With a Ming Dynasty Dish

This one vibrant color, rich in symbolism, unites two works across five centuries

Woman in E by Ragnar Kjartansson, 2016

Why a Woman Is Playing the Same Guitar Chord Over and Over Again at the Hirshhorn

The absurdly comedic work of Iceland's top performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson

"Bird," 1990, David Hammons, painted metal, wire, basketball and feathers.

This $1.4 Million "Bird" Makes an African-American Art Collection Soar to New Heights

With his first major contemporary acquisition, the Detroit Institute of Arts' new director is reinvigorating the museum

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