Painting

Today, nearly 1,000 Fayum paintings exist in collections in Egypt and at the Louvre, the British and Petrie museums in London, the Metropolitan and Brooklyn museums, the Getty in California and elsewhere.

The Oldest Modernist Paintings

Two thousand years before Picasso, artists in Egypt painted some of the most arresting portraits in the history of art

Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso courted the Steins by doing portraits of them. Pictured are Gertrude, left, and Leo, center, by Picasso and sister-in-law Sarah by Matisse.

An Eye for Genius: The Collections of Gertrude and Leo Stein

Would you have bought a Picasso painting in 1905, before the artist was known? These siblings did

In Robert Walter Weir’s c. 1838 canvas of St. Nicholas (detail), perhaps influenced by a Washington Irving story, the painter envisioned both an enigmatic trickster and a dispenser of holiday cheer.

A Mischievous St. Nick from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The 19th-century artist Robert Walter Weir took inspiration from Washington Irving to create a prototype of Santa Claus

George Catlin's c. 1827 fusion of art and cartography, A Bird's Eye View of Niagara Falls, likely struck 19th-century viewers as highly imaginative.

America's 19th Century Highway: The River

A new exhibition of American wonders underscores the debt our country owes to its waterways

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America’s Forgotten Landscape Painter: Robert S. Duncanson

Beloved by 19th-century audiences around the world, the African-American artist fell into obscurity, only to be celebrated as a genius a century later

Lawrence Weiner's "A RUBBER BALL THROWN ON THE SEA, Cat. No. 146" is displayed at the Hirshhorn Museum in blue, sans-serif lettering. Weiner was open to the seven words being produced in any color, size or font.

Ask an Expert: What is the Difference Between Modern and Postmodern Art?

A curator from the Hirshhorn Museum explains how art historians define the two classifications

Before there were fruit patents, there were pictures. Shown here is The Red Astrachan apple.

How to Trademark a Fruit

To protect the fruits of their labor and thwart "plant thieves," early American growers enlisted artists

Through September 5, the National Portrait Gallery is displaying 60 paintings on loan from private collections in Washington, D.C. Among the portraits is that of Judith Martin, better known as advice columnist "Miss Manners."

Q and A with Miss Manners

The columnist talks about how her portraiture collection reflects culture’s stance on etiquette

After 28 months, Vincenzo Perugia was arrested for the theft of the Mona Lisa. Shown here is the transfer of the painting from the Italian Ministry of Public Instruction to France.

Stolen: How the Mona Lisa Became the World’s Most Famous Painting

One hundred years ago, a heist by a worker at the Louvre secured Leonardo’s painting as an art world icon

The Peacock Room, named for the birds James McNeill Whistler painted on its shutters and walls, reflects the tension between the artist and his first significant patron.

The Story Behind the Peacock Room's Princess

How a portrait sparked a battle between an artist–James McNeill Whistler—and his patron–Frederick R. Leyland

American artist George Ault had the ability in his paintings to take specific locations in Woodstock, New York, where he lived from 1937 until his death in 1948, and make them seem universal. Shown here is Ault's Daylight at Russell's Corners, 1944.

George Ault’s World

Structured with simple lines and vivid colors, the paintings of George Aultcaptured the chaotic 1940s in a unique way

Curator John Marciari discovered the Velázquez painting in a Yale storeroom and calls The Education of the Virgin "the most significant addition to the artist's work in a century or more."

A Velázquez in the Cellar?

Sorting through old canvases in a storeroom, a Yale curator discovered a painting believed to be by the Spanish master

Wayne Thiebaud may be best known for confections, but friends and critics point to his underappreciated depths.

Wayne Thiebaud Is Not a Pop Artist

He's best known for his bright paintings of pastries and cakes, but they represent only a slice of the American master's work

Camilo José Vergara began photographing art in poor urban areas in the 1970s. He soon realized that one of the most prevalent figures in the artworks was Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. by Mural

Photographer Camilo José Vergara captures varying portrayals of the civil rights leader in urban areas across the United States

In his last ten weeks of life, Vincent Van Gogh experienced a period of unprecedented productivity. A new book compiles paintings produced during that time.

The Woman Who Brought Van Gogh to the World

Art lovers have Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law to credit for introducing the impressionist’s work to the world

"We had 12,000 to 15,000 paintings here," says Georges Nader Jr., with a Paul Tanis work at the remains of his family's house and museum near Port-au-Prince.

In Haiti, the Art of Resilience

Within weeks of January's devastating earthquake, Haiti's surviving painters and sculptors were taking solace from their work

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About This Painting

Field Beach, c. 1850s, Mary Blood Mellen.

The Grand Women Artists of the Hudson River School

Unknown and forgotten to history, these painters of America's great landscapes are finally getting their due in a new exhibition

Well before his discovery of penicillin, Alexander Fleming was a member of the Chelsea Arts Club. Less well known is that he also painted with living organisms.

Painting With Penicillin: Alexander Fleming's Germ Art

The scientist created works of art using microbes, but did his artwork help lead him to his greatest discovery?

Movie Starlet and Reporters, Norman Rockwell, 1936.

Norman Rockwell’s Storytelling Lessons

George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg found inspiration for their films in the work of one of America’s most cherished illustrators

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