Scarred by defeat, they gave birth to a golden age of Danish art
Denmark’s great artists present a case study in responses to national trauma
By Sebastian SmeeIn the galleries: Fiber-based materials yield remarkable art
A multi-artist show focuses on fiber works, two exhibits cover the functions of flowers -- poisonous and otherwise -- and a photographer demonstrates the concept of anti-portraits.
By Mark JenkinsArt history, not air pollution, explains changes in Monet’s paintings
Art isn’t science. A new study clouds the facts.
By Sebastian SmeeTa-da! Here we are! Three boys in 1967, pushing beyond the frame.
Youth and exuberance burst out of Billy Abernathy’s subtly surprising photograph, “The Screen.”
By Sebastian SmeeIn the galleries: Reimagining thresholds as frontiers
Artists explore the concept of a threshold beyond temporary space or simple pass-throughs, two artists focus on the endurance of trees and a printmaker puts the medium through intriguing paces.
By Mark JenkinsIn Edward Hopper’s New York, silence speaks volumes
The Whitney mounts a major exhibition of the work Edward Hopper made while living in New York.
By Philip KennicottHis bubbly pictures somehow evoked the true pain of love
Revisiting Watteau’s beloved clown, alone in merry company at the National Gallery of Art.
By Sebastian SmeeIn the galleries: The harsh beauties of a glacial season
Exposing winter's glories, a D.C. photographer focuses his lens outward, a paper-cutout expert depicts remarkable cityscapes and an artist's work draws from others' memories.
By Mark JenkinsWe’re a nation of joiners, a new show at the Library of Congress says
‘Join In: Voluntary Associations in America’ looks at the roots of Americans’ desire to fraternize freely.
By Mark JenkinsMichelangelo praised her. Van Dyck painted her. We’re the fools who forgot her.
Sofonisba Anguissola painted more self-portraits than any Renaissance artist after Albrecht Dürer.
By Sebastian SmeeI wanted to love the new Boston MLK statue. But it’s just awkward.
Hank Willis Thomas’s tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King has polarized opinion everywhere.
By Sebastian SmeeI’ve been waiting half my life for this show. It’s magnificent.
A major Cy Twombly exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, explores the modern artist's infatuation with the ancient Mediterranean.
By Sebastian SmeeIn the galleries: Colorful shapes, dazzling drama
Intense color-field paintings, a scintillating show on NFTs and a survey of a revered artist's work depicting the avian world.
By Mark JenkinsMichael Snow, Canadian artist on a ‘Wavelength’ of his own, dies at 94
He was best known for the 1967 film “Wavelength,” an avant-garde landmark comprising a slow, deceptively simple zoom across a New York City loft.
By Harrison SmithHurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico. But colonialism got there first.
At the Whitney, Puerto Rican artists reveal centuries of suffering laid bare by natural disaster.
By Philip KennicottMarcel Duchamp painted this explosive nude masterpiece. Then he quit.
Modern art’s most influential trickster was hatched from the controversy surrounding “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2)”
By Sebastian SmeeSmithsonian show revels in the wonders of the White City of India
‘A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur’ dazzles the eye with works of intricate detail, exquisite craftsmanship and exuberant spirit.
By Mark JenkinsJohn Grazier, penniless artist of striking perspective, dies at 76
He at times lived homeless even as his works were housed at galleries and museums in Washington and beyond.
By Emily LangerIn the galleries: Fragmented darkness with color and radiance
Two exhibits illustrate the artists' commanding use of color and form, and a multi-artist show commemorating the 140-year-old relationship between the United States and Korea.
By Mark JenkinsA forgotten Impressionist is rediscovered at the Phillips Collection
Giuseppe De Nittis, an Italian working in Paris, died young and in debt, but left a magnificent legacy of work.
By Philip Kennicott