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Art Where You're At NPR's Susan Stamberg highlights online offerings from museums around the country closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Art Where You're At

Two painters, two women, two portraits — one fascinating story of artistic influence

Left, Madame Moitessier, 1856 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London and right, Woman with a Book, 1932, Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, The Norton Simon Foundation, Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society(ARS), New York The National Gallery, London / The Norton Simon Foundation, Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society(ARS), New York hide caption

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The National Gallery, London / The Norton Simon Foundation, Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society(ARS), New York

Two painters, two women, two portraits — one fascinating story of artistic influence

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Pablo Picasso painted these portraits more than 75 years apart. But there's a clear connection between the two — and you can now see them on display together.

America, the (disappearing) beautiful

Robert Adams, Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs, 1969 gelatin silver print image: 14 x 14.9 cm (5 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.) Private collection, San Francisco. © Robert Adams, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisc hide caption

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© Robert Adams, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisc

America, the (disappearing) beautiful

Robert Adams' obsession with the decay and beauty of the American landscape is on display at the National Gallery's exhibition "American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams."

In 'Women Painting Women,' the female gaze is front and center

Hope Gangloff, Queen Jane Approximately, 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 66 x 108 inches. Collection of Alturas Foundation, San Antonio, Texas © Hope Gangloff. Adam Reich/Courtesy of the Artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC hide caption

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Adam Reich/Courtesy of the Artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

In 'Women Painting Women,' the female gaze is front and center

A new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art of Forth Worth — "Women Painting Women" — shows viewers what happens when women are both the subject and the artist. The result: something raw and real.

Dots all, folks—at the Hirshhorn, artist Yayoi Kusama immerses viewers in infinity

Visitor experiencing Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe (2018), part of the 2022 exhibition One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Matailong Du/Courtesy Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © YAYOI KUSAMA. hide caption

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Matailong Du/Courtesy Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © YAYOI KUSAMA.

Dots all, folks—at the Hirshhorn, artist Yayoi Kusama immerses viewers in infinity

Yayoi Kusama, the 93-year-old Japanese artist, is famous for her immersive infinity rooms. Starting April 1, the Hirshhorn in D.C. will be displaying two of these dazzling works.

Dots all, folks—at the Hirshhorn, artist Yayoi Kusama immerses viewers in infinity

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A mad scientist and his bird in a bubble: The story behind a peculiar painting

Installation view of Joseph Wright of Derby's An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, in "Science and the Sublime: A Masterpiece by Joseph Wright of Derby." The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens hide caption

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The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A mad scientist and his bird in a bubble: The story behind a peculiar painting

The Los Angeles-area Huntington Museum and London's National Gallery are swapping two paintings: Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy for Joseph Wright of Derby's An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump.

A mad scientist and his bird in a bubble: The story behind a peculiar painting

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Meet the security guards moonlighting as curators at the Baltimore Museum of Art

Elise Tensley, Kellen Johnson and Traci Archable-Frederick are three of the 17 security guards who curated Guarding the Art. Christopher Myers/Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art hide caption

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Christopher Myers/Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art

Meet the security guards moonlighting as curators at the Baltimore Museum of Art

The museum invited their security officers to curate an exhibition of their own. The result is a show filled with art from the sixth to the 21st century.

Meet the security guards moonlighting as curators at the Baltimore Museum of Art

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Why the photographer Jeff Wall relies on memory — not his camera — to make his art

Picture for Women, 1979, transparency in lightbox Jeff Wall/© Jeff Wall; Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum hide caption

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Jeff Wall/© Jeff Wall; Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum

Why the photographer Jeff Wall relies on memory — not his camera — to make his art

Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., is hosting five decades worth of art by Canadian Jeff Wall, a photographer who begins a work "by not photographing."

Why the photographer Jeff Wall relies on memory — not his camera — to make his art

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2 portraits of young men face off — and show a story about race in the history of art

Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy (ca. 1770) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington; Kehinde Wiley's A Portrait of a Young Gentleman (2021) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington Joshua White/The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens hide caption

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Joshua White/The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

2 portraits of young men face off — and show a story about race in the history of art

Thomas Gainsborough's 18th century painting Blue Boy inspired 21st century painter Kehinde Wiley, and they're being shown across from each other at the Huntington Art Museum near Los Angeles.

2 portraits of young men face off — and show a story about race in the history of art

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Look Closely: These Black-And-White Images Are Not What They Seem

Robert Longo, Untitled (Capitol), 2012-2013. Charcoal on mounted paper. Installation image by Lance Gerber for the Palm Springs Art Museum's exhibition Storm of Hope: Law & Disorder. Robert Longo/Metro Pictures, New York; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles hide caption

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Robert Longo/Metro Pictures, New York; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles

Look Closely: These Black-And-White Images Are Not What They Seem

Seven massive pieces by the artist Robert Longo are on view in the exhibition Storm of Hope: Law & Disorder at the Palm Springs Art Museum in California. They look like photographs — but are they?

A Story Of War, Theft And A Beautiful Woman, Back In The U.S. After 70+ Years

Sandro Botticelli, Ideal Portrait of a Lady ("Simonetta Vespucci"), 1475-80, tempera on poplar panel Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin hide caption

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Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

A Story Of War, Theft And A Beautiful Woman, Back In The U.S. After 70+ Years

After World War II, 202 paintings stolen by the Nazis toured the U.S. Now, the Cincinnati Art Museum has four of them back on view in the exhibition "Paintings, Politics and the Monuments Men."

Alice Neel's Paintings Meet The Moment At The Met

Alice Neel, Self‑Portrait, 1980 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C/The Estate of Alice Neel hide caption

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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C/The Estate of Alice Neel

Alice Neel's Paintings Meet The Moment At The Met

Painter Alice Neel's first retrospective in 20 years is both timely and ambitious. And people are flocking to see her portraits, a chronicle of the 20th century through expressive faces and figures.

5 Lesser-Known, Late-In-Life Works By Frida Kahlo Now On View In Dallas

Frida Kahlo, Diego and Frida 1929 – 1944, 1944, oil on masonite with original painted shell frame, private collection, courtesy Galería Arvi © 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York hide caption

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© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

5 Lesser-Known, Late-In-Life Works By Frida Kahlo Now On View In Dallas

"In this difficult period, people feel a strong connection to Kahlo's sorrows and triumphs," says Dallas Museum of Art curator Mark A. Castro. Kahlo made these paintings as her health deteriorated.

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