Arts & Culture
The Radicalism of Impressionism
The Impressionists staged their first exhibition in Paris in 1874 amid a transforming landscape—quite literally.
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Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
10 Must-Read Modern Poets
Great poets are hardly a thing of the past. The poets in this list are among the best English-language poets of the 21st century.
Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Editor's Picks
5 African American Designers Who Changed Fashion
Five formidable figures in fashion.
10 Frequently Confused Literary Terms
Do you confuse "denotation" with "connotation"? Oh, the irony! ...or is it coincidence?
Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu Ethiopian American abstract painter and printmaker whose canvases combine the structural elements of city grids, architectural drawings, and maps to create three-dimensional compositions representing the modern urban experience. Her works map the buildup of interactions between
Where Does the Concept of a “Grim Reaper” Come From?
Harvester of souls since when?
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer known for her images—particularly her elaborately “disguised” self-portraits—that comment on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes. Sherman grew up on Long Island, New York. In 1972 she enrolled at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and
Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous?
The reason for the Mona Lisa’s popularity is one of the painting’s many conundrums. Find out what all the fuss is about.
Dada
Dada, nihilistic and antiaesthetic movement in the arts that flourished primarily in Zürich, Switzerland; New York City; Berlin, Cologne, and Hannover, Germany; and Paris in the early 20th century. Several explanations have been given by various members of the movement as to how it received its
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
Name That Hat! Quiz
Time to put on your thinking cap.
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz
Needless to say, spoiler alert.
Guess the Game Quiz
Roll the dice and go all in.
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
How did opera's greatest soprano lose her voice?
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Galleries
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Paris
Leonardo da Vinci
Featured Categories
Art
5 Revealing Paintings by Caravaggio
Learn before you look.
The Group of Seven Remembered
In the 1910s and ’20s, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven created Canada’s first important national art movement with their landscape paintings.
5 Incredible Native American Artists
Native American artists to know.
10 Modernist Art Movements
Is this high art, or could your kid do that?
Dance
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham was an American dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. Dunham early became interested in dance. While a student at the University of
Savion Glover
Savion Glover is an American dancer and choreographer who became known for his unique pounding style of tap dancing, called “hitting.” He brought renewed interest in dance, particularly among youths and minorities. As a young child, Glover displayed an affinity for rhythms, and at age four he began
Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer who further developed the narrative aspect of dance and made innovative use of American themes, folk dances, and physical idioms in her choreography of musical plays and ballets. Her father was the playwright William Churchill DeMille, her
Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai Indian classical dancer and choreographer, actress, writer, and social activist known for her promotion of the arts as a vehicle for social change. The daughter of renowned physicist Vikram Sarabhai and dancer and choreographer Mrinalini Sarabhai, she was brought up in a culturally
Film
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini was an Italian film director who was one of the most celebrated and singular filmmakers of the period after World War II. Influenced early in his career by the Neorealist movement, he developed his own distinctive methods that superimposed dreamlike or hallucinatory imagery upon
Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay is an American director, producer, and writer whose film and television projects explore the African American experience. Among her best-known works are the film Selma (2014), the documentary 13th (2016), and the miniseries When They See Us (2019). DuVernay was the first African
David Lynch
David Lynch American filmmaker and screenwriter who was known for his uniquely disturbing and mind-bending visual work. His films juxtapose the cheerfully mundane with the shockingly macabre and often defy explanation. Lynch’s father was a research scientist with the U.S. Forest Service, and the
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola American film director, producer, screenwriter, and fashion designer known best for her films The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Lost in Translation (2003). In 2004 she was the first American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award in the category of best director. Coppola is the