The World’s First Museums Were Weird
Before museums, there were rooms of wonder filled with unicorn horns, automatons, coral, coins, and relics from around the world.
Discover how the Wunderkammer—or cabinet of curiosities—emerged from the Age of Exploration and a desire to collect and make sense of a rapidly expanding world. What drove collectors to gather, classify and display its wonders—and how does their legacy live on in museums today?
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Video: He Turns Hip-Hop Legends into Art
In a city crowded with monuments to the past, Roberto Lugo learned his first art lessons from hip-hop and Philadelphia’s murals of his neighbors, teachers, and local legends.
Video: The Roles and Representations of Animals in Japanese Art and Culture
Discover the role of animals in Japanese art and culture through this symposium, featuring a series of talks by renowned curators and scholars.
Video: The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain, The Iconography of Power
David Brown, Curator of Italian and Spanish paintings at the National Gallery of Art, describes this subtle advertising campaign waged by the Spanish throne to advance its goals and reputation as seen in the exhibition The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain, The Iconography of Power.