November 18, 2020

As winter approaches, we may once again be returning to the confines of our homes for another stretch of days, weeks, perhaps even months. How is all this intensive domesticity affecting our psyches? The inaugural show at PAVE Contemporary in London, an emerging-artist-focused division of the House of Fine Arts Gallery, suggests a rise in surreal sensibilities.

Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery, a painting by Vermeer, seemed to stand out among the many great works by the 17th-century Dutch master. It lacked the soft lighting of his other paintings, and it was short on his meticulous attention to detail. But its deficiencies didn’t matter much to Hermann Göring, a top-level

All images © Steeven Salvat, shared with permission Steeven Salvat (previously) evokes the glass-covered entomological studies of rare butterflies, beetles, and moths with an additional layer of protection. The French artist armors the singular insects with precious gemstones, silver and gold filigree, and rotational gears. Even elements of luxury watches, like Breguet’s Reine de Naple

The Google Doodle for November 18 honors Fanny Eaton, a muse to the Pre-Raphaelites who helped redefine Victorian standards of beauty. Born in Jamaica on June 23, 1835, Eaton moved to London in the 1840s with her mother, Matilda Foster, who had been freed from slavery after the practice was abolished in the English colonies in 1834. In her

Caspar David Friedrich, The Cemetery Entrance, 1825. Image via Wikimedia Commons. When friends and family have checked in on me these past months, I’ve occasionally told them I’m worried about my heart. With a job in the news, I spend my work weeks consuming headlines and statistics about COVID-19, and I’ve become alarmingly less shocked

A 26-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe playfully patting down her upblown skirt is the source of a heated debate in Palm Springs, California. The town’s city council has approved the, um… cheeky statue—a recreation of the actor’s iconic scene atop a blustery subway grate from the 1955 Billy Wilder comedy The Seven Year Itch—to be installed

“Follow Your Heart Wholeheartedly” (2020), rattan sticks, yarn, rakes, washers, plastic swords, toy soldiers, beads, metal and plastic ornaments, 131.5 x 141.75 x 11.75 inches. Installation view of Asia Society Triennial: “We Do Not Dream Alone” at Asia Society Museum, New York. Photograph by Bruce M. White. All images courtesy of Asia Society, shared with

An Italian scholar claims to have discovered a new drawing of Jesus Christ by Leonardo da Vinci that confirms doubts that the Renaissance master painted Salvator Mundi, the world’s most expensive work of art. A private collector in Lecco showed the red chalk drawing of Jesus Christ to Annalisa Di Maria, a Leonardo scholar associated