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A few months ago, someone left an Amazon review for a Creative Thinking Journal, I created. The review stated that the journal might have been worthwhile if the guided exercises weren’t “specifically about liberal thoughts.” Huh! I thought. I had no intention of writing a book about creativity for leftists. Many of the creative activities introduced in the guided journal are open-ended and rely on free association, allowing users to add anything they choose without being told what to say or think. The question nagged at me: Is it even possible to create a book on creativity that isn’t inherently...

For over a century, everyone believed that The Devil's Checkmate (1831), the famous painting by Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch, depicted the ultimate defeat of the human soul at the hands of the devil -- a dark scene with no apparent way out. But in 1888, chess champion Paul Morphy saw the painting... and noticed something no one else had. According to the story, he studied the board, analyzed the position of the pieces, and revealed that the young man wasn't lost after all -- he still had one move left. This discovery not only changed how we look at the...

The centerpiece of a new exhibit in Los Angeles is a mangled junkyard of a statue, with horse and human limbs glommed together like some kind of zombie Ichabod Crane. Now dismembered beyond recognition, the piece was once a statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. In 2021, the statue — along with its better-known counterpart, a statue of Jackson’s friend and commanding officer Robert E. Lee — was removed from downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, four years after the city council voted to remove them. Lee’s statue met its demise in 2023, torn apart and melted down in secret. The haunting...

Not content with dominating the music scene, Taylor Swift is apparently now taking on the art world, with hundreds of her fans making the pilgrimage to a German museum to catch a glimpse of a certain painting. Earlier this month, the Grammy winner released the music video for her latest single The Fate Of Ophelia, the opening shot of which seems to have been inspired by artist Friedrich Heyser’s painting depicting the iconic Shakespearean character. Heyser’s painting now lives in Museum Wiesbaden in Germany, and dedicated Swifties have been paying it a visit in their droves much to the surprise...

The broad-daylight heist, which was pulled off in just seven minutes, happened 800m from Paris police headquarters.Robbers wielding power tools scaled a furniture hoist outside the Louvre to make off with priceless jewellery from the world-renowned museum on Sunday (Oct 19), taking just seven minutes for the brazen, broad-daylight heist, sources and officials said. The criminals struck at about 9.30am local time when the museum had already opened its doors to the public. They entered the Gallerie d'Apollon (Apollo's Gallery) building, which is home to the French Crown Jewels, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It did not say...

Possible identity of "Mona Lisa of the North" has been revealed by a British art historian.A mysterious girl with a pearl earring from Johannes Vermeer's famous painting was likely the daughter of the painter's commissioner, a historian has revealed. The 17th-century Dutch painter Vermeer worked almost exclusively for Pieter van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt, a Dutch husband and wife in Delft. This has been revealed by Andrew Graham-Dixon, the art historian and TV presenter, claiming the girl wearing the pearl earring in the renowned oil painting is likely the couple's daughter, Magdalene. The wealthy family were members of a...

Two activists from the climate group Futuro Vegetal were arrested on Sunday, October 12, the date Spain commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, after throwing biodegradable red paint on a painting of Columbus at the Naval Museum in Madrid. Per reports from El Confidencial and El País, the paint damaged the left portion of José Garnelo’s 1892 First Tribute to Christopher Columbus, which is displayed at the museum entrance. The activists also unfurled a banner reading “October 12, nothing to celebrate. Ecosocial justice.” Futuro Vegetal said in a statement that the incident aimed to call attention to...

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has announced the return of the newly restored “Christ on the Water” painting to its place of prominence at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA). The historic artwork, which had been relocated to the basement of the Academy’s chapel in 2023, was unveiled during a ceremony in Wiley Hall with Academy leadership and midshipmen in attendance.

Police in Louisiana have arrested three suspects in connection with the theft and destruction of a statue depicting Abraham Lincoln The incident took place at the Houmas House Estate and Gardens, a historic plantation located in Darrow, a small town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Located on a curve of the Mississippi River, the site first attracted European settlers in the early 1700s; construction on the property’s large Greek Revival-style mansion started in 1829. Today, the 38-acre site is a tourist destination, Kevin Kelly, the site’s owner, noticed the antique, solid silver statue of the nation’s 16th president was...

Immediately after the murder of Charlie Kirk, Israeli street artist Dudi Shoval set out to memorialize the defender of Israel and Judeo-Christian values in a mural in Ashdod.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has taken the decision to remove a new Banksy mural due to the building being listed and therefore legally protected. However, some feel that they are “silencing a work of art about silencing protest”... A new Banksy artwork that sprung up this week at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has been scrubbed off. As we reported this week, the mural by the ever-elusive street artist depicted a helpless protester lying on the ground holding a blood-spattered placard, while a judge loomed over him wielding a gavel. British police moved quickly to cover-up...

The Van Gogh Museum, the beloved Amsterdam home to many masterpieces by one of the 19th century’s most famous painters, said it could be forced to close if the Dutch government doesn’t appropriate more money to a much-needed renovation. The museum threatened closure on Wednesday via press release, an unusual measure that the institution said was necessary because the government is “not keeping the promise” it inked with the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962. The foundation owns most of the artworks on view at the museum, including iconic paintings such as The Potato Eaters (1885). Signed after the artist’s...

It was one of many cool finds in a luxurious residence in Sicily. Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: A famed Roman villa offers a surprising find of a flip-flop-like sandal shown in ancient mosaics. Archaeologists continue to excavate what was once a luxurious residence in Sicily, Italy. The discovery comes alongside one of the most famous mosaic-filled Roman villas in the world. Discovering a fourth century A.D. mosaic of what appears to be modern-day flip-flops wasn’t what anyone expected during the excavation of a famed Roman villa in Sicily, Italy. But then again, this is the...

The Musée Guimet, a Paris museum known for its rich collection of Asian art, is facing a lawsuit from several groups who accused the institution of trying to “erase the existence of Tibet.” According to the Agence France-Presse, which first reported news of the complaint last week, the suit centers around a gallery devoted to art from Nepal and Tibet. The museum now notes that the gallery focuses on the “Himalayan world,” not Nepal and Tibet specifically, according to the AFP. Doing so, the groups said, could create “confusion about Tibet’s cultural distinctiveness with the political aim of erasing Tibet’s...

A foolish tourist in Italy sat on a chair adorned with thousands of Swarovski crystals for a photo op, crushing the precious work of art beneath his weight. Instead of lowering himself and pretending to sit for the photo — like the woman accompanying him had done — security video shows a man deciding to go for it and sit down. The chair crumbled under his weight, as he lost his balance, trying to hold on to the wall with both hands so he didn’t fall. The woman came to his rescue, and the pair scurried out of the room....

Why did the star lot of the spring season, a bronze head by the master sculptor Alberto Giacometti, fail to sell at Sotheby’s? Alberto Giacometti’s 1955 bust, “Grande tête mince" (“Big Thin Head”), carried a pre-sale estimate of $70 million in Sotheby’s Modern evening auction. The auctioneer started the bidding at $59 million dollars. But no one bid - the piece went unsold. It was the second high-profile lot to disappoint in two days. Andy Warhol’s “Big Electric Chair” (1967-68) was withdrawn from Christie’s 20th century evening auction the day before. Is the fine art market in trouble?

Thanks to the generosity of Pompeii Sites, we can explore the newly discovered large-scale frescoes from an ongoing excavation in Region IX and compare it with two other nearly contemporary fresco cycles. This new hall with Dionsysiac scenes is truly a one of a kind discovery. Join Darius for a unique opportunity on site in Pompeii as the excavation continues! Newly Discovered Large-Scale Pompeii Frescoes | 10:25 Darius Arya Digs | 31.8K subscribers | 35,437 views | June 2, 2025

Flaming June triumphed at exhibition in 1895, but its moment in the sun was short. Leighton's death the following year heralded the end of an era. As Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and abstraction gained prominence in Europe and the United States, the artistic vision that he proposed came to be seen by many curators, scholars, and critics as outmoded and sentimental. Flaming June seemed superficial and vapid, an invocation of sensibilities that no longer rang true; the painting fell into obscurity. We do not know where it was from 1930 until 1962, when it resurfaced on the art market without its original...

A New Hampshire town's attempt to force a bakery to remove or alter its painting that shows sunbeams shining down on a mountain range of doughnuts, a muffin, a cinnamon roll and other pastries is unconstitutional, a judge ruled in a First Amendment dispute. The town of Conway infringed on the free speech rights of bakery owner Sean Young, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante ruled Monday, following a one-day trial in February. He ordered the town to stop any efforts at enforcing its sign code regarding the mural painted by high school students atop Leavitt's Country Bakery, mentioning a "complete...

Sotheby's famed auction room was filled with gasps followed by shocked silence after an iconic statue priced far too ambitiously failed to sell at auction. Billionaires descended on the New York City event on Tuesday in the hope of snagging a masterpiece created by the likes of Picasso, Monet or Matisse. But it was Alberto Giacometti's 1955 bronze bust, called Grand tête mince, that was billed as the auction's centerpiece by experts who gave it a $70 million guide price.