No one knows exactly how the people of Nan Madol created this royal capital made of giant stones.
Just published
Weems confronts identity, family, and the myth of home in this iconic series of photographs.
Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Woman Feeding Bird), ...
Kaphar takes a violent history and renders it visible in this modified portrait of Andrew Jackson.
Titus Kaphar, The Cost of Removal
![Andy Warhol, Coca-Cola [3] (detail), 1962, casein on canvas, 176.2 x 137.2 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts)](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Andy-Warhol-Coca-Cola-thumb-570x350.jpg)
With this canvas, Coca-Cola [3], Warhol becomes Warhol.
Warhol, Coca-Cola [3]
How did cabinets of curiosities become temples to the Enlightenment? Explore the fascinating history of museums.
A brief history of the art museum
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Eugène Delacroix, Murals in the Chapel of ...
Art museums and politics have a long and complex relationship; nowhere is this more apparent than the Louvre.
Museums and politics: the Louvre, Paris
A century before democracy was tested by social media gone rogue, Hausmann understood the dark side of technology.
Raoul Hausmann, Spirit of the Age: Mechanical ...
Stretching from Europe to the Philippines, the Spanish Empire amassed great wealth—and spent lavishly on art.
The Renaissance in Spain
Neither words nor images fully capture the Christian God. Despite this inherent difficulty, painters still tried.
The problem with Christ
Empty, blank, or unfinished spaces leave paintings open to the viewer and create compelling ambiguities.
Unspeakable images: when words fail
In paintings as in sacred spaces, curtains play with revelation and draw attention to the limits of human vision.
So near and yet so far: visions ...
Temporal and spatial ambiguity imbue two images of the Virgin and Child—and this portrait of Christ’s suffering.
This world and the next: Christ on ...
Like place, time is an important theological category and, like the divine, it can be hard to comprehend.
Time and eternity: Yesterday, today, and always
Renaissance painters like Lippi devised spatial metaphors in order to convey the mystery of Christ’s conception.
Putting God in his place: here, everywhere, ...
Where does a painting end and our reality begin? Crivelli’s humble snail prompts more questions than answers.
Christ is not like a snail: Signs ...
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Nari Ward, We the People (black version)
Perspective is the star of this painting. Saenredam expertly widens the viewpoint to create an interior panorama.
Saenredam, Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem
As people from all over the world visit Pompeii, officials juggle increasing threats to the deteriorating site.
The rediscovery of Pompeii and the other ...
Mary cries and falls into John’s arms. Rogier’s precise observations accentuate the emotional impact of this scene.