The Met's unofficial mascot—this tiny hippo named William—has a bit of a dark side | Art, Explained

Deconstructing Michelangelo's process from a Sistine Chapel study | Art, Explained

How to read a Matisse | Art, Explained

What's so significant about the nudity in this early Greek sculpture? | Art, Explained

This 3,000-year-old Olmec face was made to last. What can we learn from it? | Art, Explained

This isn't just an engraving of Adam and Eve from 1504. It's a global ad campaign | Art, Explained

How Akkadian cylinder seals served as ancient signatures | Art, Explained

The deeply human story hiding behind Tutankhamun's head | Art, Explained

How Alexander Calder's "Mobile" injects motion into sculpture | Art, Explained

You could get lost in this Turkish sultan's elaborate signature | Art, Explained

How this Ancient Greek sculpture captures the purity of love l Art, Explained

Rembrandt's interpretation of the crucifixion changes how you look at people | Art, Explained

The teen prodigies behind this groundbreaking 15th century French picture book | Art, Explained

Why do some call this table seductive? | Art, Explained

What this object from a lost society tells us about a whole civilization | Art, Explained

How Albrecht Dürer made a statement through his studies | Art, Explained

How Jacques Louis David's study of Brutus gives you permission to be subjective | Art, Explained

Why this Buddhist Monk statue defies traditional depictions of religious figures | Art, Explained

Walker Evans' candid photos of 1930s subway passengers are early conceptual art | Art, Explained

How "The Triumph of Marius" is about the losers as much as the winners | Art, Explained

How William Blake uses light as a symbol to cast the difference between two groups | Art, Explained

How Liang Kai paints with metaphor | Art, Explained

Alexander McQueen's extreme fashion | Art, Explained

How beauty can inspire faith | Art, Explained

How Andrés Segovia's guitar changed music history | Art, Explained

How to find meaning in Jasper Johns' "White Flag" | Art, Explained

Why is the virgin Mary so sad in this piece? | Art, Explained

El Greco's dramatic interpretation of Toledo | Art, Explained

Meet the protector of Buddhist law | Art, Explained

Uncovering the mysteries of an Ancient Egyptian canopic jar | Art, Explained

The terrifying deity that protects Buddhist monasteries | Art, Explained

How Winslow Homer evokes the power of nature with just a few elements | Art, Explained

Frank Lloyd Wright designed this pavilion as a living room and small concert space | Art, Explained

This wooden sculpture has motion and vitality unseen in most Egyptian art | Art, Explained

What makes this Korean pensive bodhisattva so inviting? | Art, Explained

How to understand a Jackson Pollock painting | Art, Explained

How this elegant 1919 coat was made from only one piece of fabric and one seam | Art, Explained

How the dizzying repetition of these Assyrian reliefs gives them hyperreality | Art, Explained

Why the brick lions that protected the streets of Babylon feel alive | Art, Explained

How this taxidermy deer covered with crystals changes the way we look at reality | Art, Explained

The rare tapestry that changed how others were made | Art, Explained

This is the earliest surviving piano | Art, Explained

The details in this painting of Krishna reflect cross-cultural open-mindedness | Art, Explained

Decoding the necklace of an Ancient Egyptian princess | Art, Explained

"The most powerful artistic impression of women" | Art, Explained

How Edgar Degas captured the gangly, awkward movements of a young dancer | Art, Explained

Most Medieval depictions of Jesus are gentle. Why is this carving so dramatic? | Art, Explained

Why this Dionysus statue is the centerpiece of the Roman court | Art, Explained

12 paintings by Shitao that take you on a journey | Art, Explained

The decorated koto that might be too beautiful to play | Art, Explained

This Egyptian statue is reminiscent of a family photo | Art, Explained

This avant-garde French table is a statement of arrival in America | Art, Explained

This altar piece embodies the culture of storytelling in the Middle Ages | Art, Explained

This over-the-top golden vase by Tiffany & Co. is a salute to American commerce | Art, Explained

This relief of Jesus' final hours changed how sculptures tell stories | Art, Explained

Why is this imitation gallstone held in such an extravagant case? | Art, Explained

A medieval effort to visualize commentary | Art, Explained

What the hands can tell us in Bellini’s “Madonna and Child” | Art, Explained

How Bassano's age and death change our understanding of his unfinished painting | Art, Explained

"Girls I Have Known"—An inadvertent self-portrait from a teen boy's 1917 photo book | Art, Explained

Rembrandt makes da Vinci's "The Last Supper" his own with this chalk study | Art, Explained

This tiny Egyptian statue was created to house the spirit of a god | Art, Explained

The celestial globe that features mythology, science, and technology | Art, Explained

This shawl, thought to be hand-woven in India, was actually produced in France | Art, Explained

Why this plate has one of the most cinematic depictions of David and Goliath | Art, Explained

The stunning tapestry woven by victims of religious persecution | Art, Explained

The agenda behind John Trumbull's war painting | Art, Explained

This Greek architecture costume design makes fun of popular taste | Art, Explained

How this ornate saddle reflects traditional Tibetan culture | Art, Explained

The economy of this Persian pen drawing wouldn't be possible without calligraphy | Art, Explained

How this English porcelain bottle mount embraces China with antiquity | Art, Explained

How the details of this bust revealed its subject—a forgotten world leader | Art, Explained

The mystery behind the person who wore this gold ornament | Art, Explained

Rusticware that reflects the period's fascination with exploring the natural world | Art, Explained

How this vast landscape uses tiny brushstrokes to create a unified view of nature | Art, Explained

Why this porcelain broth bowl stops a Met curator in his tracks | Art, Explained

Frederic Remington's most ambitious project has a cinematic quality | Art, Explained

What this Tang dynasty figure represents about human beauty and its moment in time | Art, Explained

How the only print of this landscape photograph is revolutionary | Art, Explained

This small clay figure expresses an artist's emotional family story | Art, Explained

The Met's Great Hall was built to inspire awe and a sense of arrival | Art, Explained

Why Peruvian fashion favored septum jewelry with spiders | Art, Explained

"Accident" is a print about printmaking and Rauschenberg embracing the process | Art, Explained

The ancestor's voice emerges from the slit in the gong when it is played | Art, Explained

What can this photograph teach us about love? | Art, Explained

How this Chinese scroll confronts us with our own mortality | Art, Explained

Otto Dix wanted to capture the essence of a person, no matter how negative | Art, Explained

Why Charles James saw himself as a sculptor of fabric | Art, Explained

What makes this seemingly simple drinking vessel rebellious? | Art Explained

This Roman gadget was clearly designed to impress | Art, Explained

Is an inscription in Hebrew letters on this crossbow a secret code? | Art, Explained

Why is the sphinx considered a guardian figure? | Art, Explained

The armor that breaks away from all established standards | Art, Explained

How this Tiffany hair ornament embodies so much of what the artist was about | Art, Explained

This painting has more to do with the act of painting than with the actual narrative | Art Explained

Can you listen to a painting? | Art Explained

What makes this painting a monument to Western culture? | Art, Explained

What are the angels on this enameled plaque bearing witness to? | Art, Explained

What makes this helmet a masterpiece of Renaissance metalwork? | Art, Explained

Deciphering the language of paint in Arshile Gorky's "Water of the Flowery Mill." | Art Explained

Considering the Philadelphia Table

Uncover the unique depiction of Earth in Jesse Krimes', Apokaluptein.

Mandalas— An In-Depth Look

An Evening with Lauren Groff and Anastasia Samoylova

Where, In What Form, Shall We Meet Again: On 20th-Century Art in Korea

Dive into the fascinating art process of Jesse Krimes' immersive contemporary installation.

Meet the Artist—The Great Hall Commission: Tong Yang-Tze, Dialogue