art

The artist behind 'the worst' Trump portrait defends her work

7:09am April 07, 2025

The painting, which was commissioned by Republicans, has hung in Colorado's state Capitol since 2019. Trump follows other U.S. presidents who weren't flattered by their depictions.

Opinion: Art fair flyers should showcase human creativity

8:00am April 05, 2025

Organizers of Oakland's First Fridays art festival made a flyer promoting the event using AI, and are facing backlash for not using an actual artist. NPR's Scott Simon explains.

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This art exhibition is 'divisive' or 'eye-opening' — it depends who you ask

1:58pm April 02, 2025

A new White House executive order says the exhibition is an example of how the Smithsonian portrays "American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive."

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Christie's AI art auction inspires protests – and more art

5:00am February 17, 2025

by Chloe Veltman

The upcoming Augmented Intelligence sale represents the first time a major auction house is focusing entirely on works created using machine learning. Artists have mixed feelings about it.

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Artist, scientist, polymath — a new documentary uncovers the real Leonardo da Vinci

5:00am November 18, 2024

We have a lot of labels for Leonardo da Vinci but a new documentary seeks to understand him as a person.

National

Opinion: Banksy's London Zoo, art's simple joy during complex times

8:00am August 17, 2024

NPR's Scott Simon details some of the new works of the street artist known as Banksy. They include mountain goats, gorillas, and other zoo animals on the streets of London.

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At 91, Nigerian artist who reimagined the crucifixion is celebrated at Smithsonian

1:25pm June 22, 2024

by Emmanuel Akinwotu

Bruce Onobrakpeya was unafraid to challenge the conventions of the art world — and was celebrated for it. This giant of African art is basking in the joy of his first Smithsonian solo exhibition.

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Rescued from her studio in Kibbutz Be'eri near Israel's border with Gaza, artist Ziva Jelin's damaged painting Curving Road is currently on special display in the Israeli Art gallery of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Artist's work rises from the ashes of a kibbutz attacked by Hamas onto a museum wall

12:39pm November 17, 2023

by Jaclyn Diaz

Ziva Jelin and her family survived Hamas' brutal attack on Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7. So did the 61-year-old artist's painting Curving Road, which now hangs in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Design strategist Anna Engstrom created this sketch of a futuristic hospital that appears in Artists Remaking Medicine. She writes that she envisions "a more colorful health care future."

Could creativity transform medicine? These artists think so

7:00am November 11, 2023

by Mara Gordon

A new book argues that the arts have a role to play in shaking up the status quo in the American health care system and creating 'desperately needed culture change.'

The artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is one of this year's MacArthur fellows. Her sculptures, paintings, installations and photography are displayed in over 30 museums around the globe. When she got news of the s0-called "genius grant," she says, " I was running room to room in the house, feeling a sense of terror and elation."

MacArthur 'genius' makes magical art that conjures up her Afro-Cuban roots

12:03pm October 04, 2023

by Malaka Gharib

One of this year's MacArthur fellows — the so-called 'genius grant' — the artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is inspired by her family's African roots, her Cuban childhood and modern American life.