A miniature masterpiece carved on an ancient seal stone is changing ideas about art history. Jack Davis helped discover the Pylos Combat Agate in Greece and tells Scott Simon why it's so important.
Artists Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas strive to change perceptions of "bad neighborhoods" by arming locals with paintbrushes and a vision: to turn their neighborhoods into open-air art galleries.
Western art contains countless paintings and sculptures that reveal a painful history of racism. We can't erase that history, but artist Titus Kaphar has begun the long and hard work of amending it.
Using Arabic calligraphy, eL Seed paints messages of hope on the sides of buildings. He says the beauty of Arabic script — even if you can't read it — can change negative perceptions of Arab culture.
When museum conservators examined Vincent Van Gogh's Olive Trees, they found something curious stuck in its paint: a grasshopper. Could it be just some weird leftover — or a crucial clue?
In the 1600s, after decades of war, the Netherlands was thriving. Artists like Johannes Vermeer celebrated the nation's wealth with images of fine clothing, glimmering pearls and imported parrots.
Aline Charigot hadn't known Renoir long when she posed for his masterpiece, but he'd already fallen for her. Curator Eliza Rathbone says, "That's why she has the role that she does in the painting."
The last known privately owned painting by Leonardo da Vinci is going up for auction. But it will probably go back into private hands because no museum can afford the price. "Salvator Mundi" is likely to sell for more than a $100 million.
The portrait of Jesus Christ, Salvator Mundi, was recently confirmed to be a da Vinci that had been thought to be destroyed. It's not clear where the painting was, exactly, for more than a century.