Art & Design NPR explores the visual arts including design, photography, sculpture, and architecture. Interviews, commentary, and audio. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Art & Design

A screenshot from the premiere of The Joy of Painting shows the painter Bob Ross with the work, A Walk in the Woods, which is up for sale. YouTube/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

This rare Bob Ross painting could be yours — for close to $10 million

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A woman stands in front of an blank canvas hung up at the Kunsten Museum in Aalborg, Denmark, in 2021. Danish artist Jens Haaning sent the museum blank canvasses under the title Take the Money and Run. Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Eight of Ohio's prehistoric monumental earthworks built 2,000 years ago by Native Americans are Ohio's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Ohio History Connection hide caption

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The Ohio History Connection

Ohio's Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are now a UNESCO World Heritage site

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Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero poses inside the "Tren de La Cultura" ("Train of Culture"), during a news conference for the exhibition "Fernando Botero: The Circus," in Medellín, Colombia, Jan. 30, 2015. Fredy Builes/Reuters hide caption

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Fredy Builes/Reuters

Natasha Poonawalla, executive director of the vaccine-manufacturing Serum Institute of India, donned an haute couture sari for the 2022 Met Gala. The garment is on display at the museum show '"The Offbeat Sari" (pictured, right). The designer is Sabyasachi Mukherjee and the metal corset is by Schiaparelli. Mike Coppola/Getty Images (l), Andy Stagg. Courtesy of the Design Museum hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty Images (l), Andy Stagg. Courtesy of the Design Museum

Memories of my mom are wrapped up in her saris

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Far from the internet, these big, benevolent trolls lure humans to nature

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Malaka Gharib/ NPR

Want to 'feel something' when you look at art? Try these 6 tips

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Children activating the installation America's Playground: DC by artist Derrick Adams in Constitution Gardens on the National Mall. A.J. Mitchell/Monument Lab hide caption

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A.J. Mitchell/Monument Lab

A groundbreaking exhibition on the National Mall shows monuments aren't set in stone

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The destroyed Waiola Church is shown following wildfire, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina. Rick Bowmer/AP hide caption

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Rick Bowmer/AP

Maui's cultural landmarks burned, but all is not lost

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Los Angeles based background actors Rebecca Safier (left), Alexandria Rubalcaba and Dom Lubsey have all had production companies scan their faces and bodies to make digital replicas. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

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Grace Widyatmadja/NPR

Movie extras worry they'll be replaced by AI. Hollywood is already doing body scans

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"It's not emotionally easy to come by here anymore," Neda Sharghi said of this alley in Washington, D.C. Her brother Emad Shargi, depicted above, remains in Iran's Evin prison. Steve Inskeep/NPR hide caption

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Steve Inskeep/NPR

'This has become a sacred alley.' The face of Emad Shargi imprisoned in Iran

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Lil Kim Henny Ray Abrams/Getty Images hide caption

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Henny Ray Abrams/Getty Images
MIXA/Getty Images/MIXA

Find a book you'll actually want to read

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Fragile Cargo recounts Chinese curators' efforts to rescue priceless artworks ahead of and during war with Japan in the 1930s. It's the first time the story has been told in English. Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Simon & Schuster

Museum visitors explore Cellphone: Unseen Connections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian Institution hide caption

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Smithsonian Institution

How DOES your cellphone work? A new exhibition dials into the science

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