Arts & Culture

Vincent Van Gogh painting, "Sunflowers".  Oil on canvas.
Stealing Beauty: 11 Notable Art Thefts

 In spite of security precautions, theft remains a very real concern for museums around the world. 

© Corel
Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, 1935.
Everett Collection Inc./Alamy
Walt Disney’s First Cartoon Critter Was Not Mickey Mouse

If a few business decisions in the 1920s had gone differently, those mouse ears could have been rabbit ears.

Everett Collection Inc./Alamy

Editor's Picks

The Fairy Queen's Messenger, illustration by Richard Doyle, c. 1870s.
6 Fictional Languages You Can Really Learn
Pedich Edhellen? Do you speak Elvish?
Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures
Art texture. Close-up of yellow abstract painting. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society
10 Modernist Art Movements
Is this high art, or could your kid do that?
The Jeff Koons tulips sculputure outside the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao, Spain, Basque Country.
What’s the Difference Between Modern and Contemporary Art?
Is that odd installation piece that rains on you when you get near it modern or contemporary art? Here are some tips on how to tell the difference.
Athol Fugard with John Kani and Winston Ntshona
African literature
African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with works written by Africans in European languages. Traditional written literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic
Mesopotamian Religion. Cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, London, England, 7th Century BC, describing the Flood Epic, a deluge story in the Epic of Gilgamesh added as Tablet XI to the ten original tablets of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who copied or altered parts of the flood story from the Epic of Atrahasis. (flood tablet, Neo Assyrian, clay tablet)
What Was the First Book Ever Written?
Learn about the earliest surviving literature.
Pia Camil
Pia Camil
Pia Camil Mexican performance and multimedia artist noted for work that showcased commerce, clothing, and collaboration in a fluid and participatory manner. Camil was raised in Mexico City. She earned a B.F.A. in 2003 from the Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. in 2008 from the Slade
iPod. The iPod nano released to the public Sept. 2010 completely redesigned with Multi-Touch. Half the size and even easier to play. Choose from seven electric colors. iPod portable media player developed by Apple Inc., first released in 2001.
10 Musical Acts That Scored 10 #1 Hits
One of pop music’s most exclusive clubs contains some of its biggest stars.

Spotlight: Impressionism

Impressionist painting comprises the work produced between about 1867 and 1886 by a group of artists, headlined by Claude Monet and Pierre Auguste Renoir, who shared a set of related approaches and techniques. The most conspicuous characteristic was an attempt to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and color. 

Quizzes

A mens hat resting on fabric. trilby
Name That Hat! Quiz
Time to put on your thinking cap.
Young woman with glasses reading a book, student
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz
Needless to say, spoiler alert.
Backgammon set with dice. game, board
Guess the Game Quiz
Roll the dice and go all in.
Publicity still of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) and one of the Flying Monkeys (Winged Monkeys) from the motion picture film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939); directed by Victor Fleming (there were a number of uncredited directors). (cinema, movies)
Iconic Pop Culture Villains Quiz
Do you know what famous villain’s costume was inspired by samurai? What bad guy’s middle name is Marvolo? Test your knowledge about pop culture’s dark side with this quiz about iconic villains!

Videos

Jeanne Gang on the future of architecture
Jeanne Gang on the future of architecture
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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