issues in art history
LGBTQ+ history is remembered through centuries of artistic creation.
Art, Pride, and the Rainbow Flag
The art market is one of the many ways rich people game the system to save billions of dollars in taxes each year.
The Art Market and taxes
The word “crisis” suggests a temporary problem—but destruction and loss of cultural heritage is an ongoing issue.
Cultural heritage “in crisis”
Corporate lobbies and board rooms are often graced with impressive art, but why?
Why Do Corporations Buy Art?
Artist Maurizio Cattelan duct taped a banana to a wall. Why did it capture our attention, curiosity, and memes? What does it mean?
The $150,000 Banana
Throughout history, art has helped reveal the climate around us and highlight our fragile relationship to it.
How Climate Changes Art
In 2018, .004% of the US budget went to the National Endowment for the Arts.
Should Art Be Publicly Funded?
There is a huge range of ways that gender has been understood and represented in the history of art.
What does art tell us about gender?
Resistance isn't always visible, but when we can see it in art, what does it look like?
What does resistance look like?
What are we to make of an artist who shreds his work right after selling it?
Behind the Banksy Stunt
Migration is central to human experience.
Art about Migration
Have you heard of Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentilschi? Find out why her popularity, and that of other artists, has risen dramatically since the 1970s.
Trending artists
The nude has been celebrated but also censored. What's wrong with seeing the unclothed human body?
The case for nudity
Darkness at noon? There are so many stories of art these days, you’re sure to stay awake in class.
Why you don’t like art history
Artists don’t just imitate the world around them—they copy each other, reworking old images and revising history.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
