The Object

Truth, beauty, transcendence. For millennia, people think they know the rules of great art. Then, in the 1950s, a guy named Bob breaks every one of them, declaring car tires and Coke bottles and entirely blank canvases part of his art--and, in turn, being declared the greatest artist of his time. As war gives way to optimism, is Robert Rauschenberg offering a weary world a new way of seeing, or is...

As long as humans have made art, they have made art of naked humans. But why? From Greek gods romping in the buff to saints au naturel to modern “bathing beauties,” it’s the surprising story of a phenomenon as misunderstood as it is ubiquitous. You can see one of Matisse's reclining nudes, mentioned in this episode and a great ab workout, here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1888/large-seated...

The first episode of Season 5 is a story as old as life itself: things fall apart. But what really happened to all those ancient statues missing arms, legs, heads, and other appendages? How have we come to treat them as normal--a normal way of seeing the classical age, like paintings of the Renaissance or black-and-white photos of the 1900s? Have they shaped a perception of the past as more remote...

Season 5 of The Object begins Monday, March 6! Until then, enjoy this encore presentation of "The Black Musketeer," first broadcast in May 2022. The man behind "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" was one of the richest, most popular authors in the world—an adventurous celebrity who could fight as well as write. But many of Alexandre Dumas’ readers today don’t know that he was Bl...

In 1950, Robert Doisneau takes one of the most iconic photographs of Paris—a young couple kissing on the street—that eventually becomes a global symbol of romance, spontaneity, joie de vivre. But the real story is only now coming to light, a story about the world as it is and the world as we wish it to be. You can see the photograph in question here, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute...

Many people dream of finding a masterpiece in the attic, a closet, or a thrift store. In 2007, it happened to a church in a small town, and the story behind the painting is just as curious. It's a special bonus episode to start the new year with good vibes and a question: do you feel lucky? What would you do? Maybe you should listen to find out. You can see the painting mentioned in this episode,...

In 1650, a less-than-holy artist is hired to paint a religious mystery even the pope isn't totally sure about. It's just one part of the Church's plan to counter its enemies with guns, inquisitions, and art, but the mystery—and the artist—will become increasingly popular as a new world threatens to end the old. You can see the grand artwork mentioned in the show here, in the collection of the Minn...

In the mid-1960s, Richard Avedon is the most famous photographer in the world, redefining fashion and celebrity while becoming an icon himself. But as America is shaken by the war in Vietnam and racial strife, he struggles to reinvent himself as a serious artist, showing the country as it is—not as it pretends to be. You can see more than a dozen of Avedon's most famous photographs, including his...

In ancient China, a royal sorcerer named Xu Fu is sent with some 60 ships to find the elixir of immortality. But on the second voyage, he and his crew of thousands disappear. Possibly to Japan, legend suggests, where Xu Fu becomes the first emperor. Now, as a Hmong artist explains, one clue to their fate may lie with his people’s own legendary history. You can see the entire 50-painting series of...

In 1798, a portrait artist named Joshua Johnson advertises himself as a “self-taught genius.” A few decades later, he will nearly be forgotten. It’s a mystery only now being revealed: the unlikely story of the man sometimes called America’s first Black professional artist. A story of slavery and freedom, racism and redemption, nearly lost to history. You can see Johnson's "Portrait of Richard John...

As long as people have told stories, we have told stories about animals. Stories of slow turtles and fast rabbits, sly foxes and cunning monkeys, that are really stories about ourselves. But why? What can animals tell us about human nature? And what happens to our fellow creatures when we turn them—in art and literature and myth—into something they’re not? You can see Edwin Landseer’s startling pa...

Leonora Carrington has never felt at home in her wealthy, conservative family. But when she meets the Surrealists in the 1930s, and runs from everything she knows, it will take everything she has to become the artist and writer she wants to be. Most importantly: her singular imagination, which reveals the world as both more magical and more haunted than most of us care to admit. You can see her fe...

No one lives forever. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying, and for a long time the noble way to avoid getting old and dying was to avoid getting old at all: the Greek notion of the “glorious death” that confers immortality in battle. It’s an idea that resurfaces throughout history—until it meets its match in a war of many deaths and little glory. You can see “Kiss of Victory,” the sculpture...

The man behind "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" was one of the richest, most popular authors in the world—an adventurous celebrity who could fight as well as write. But many of Alexandre Dumas’ readers today don’t know that he was Black—or that his best story may have been his own. A portrait of Alexandre Dumas, widely reproduced in his day, was recently acquired by the Minne...

In the 1970s, Georgia O’Keeffe is supposedly the hermit savant of the New Mexico badlands, rarely heard and seldom seen, even as the outside world can’t get enough of her enigmatic art. But when curators, journalists, and even the FBI come calling, it seems the head ghost of Ghost Ranch is the host with the most—and hardly ever alone. A fresh look at a myth we can’t stop believing. You can see one...

(Season 4 premiere) It’s one of the largest jade sculptures in the world, a 640-pound mountain commissioned by the Chinese emperor. But in 1901, in the ugly aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, it ends up leaving China with an American diplomat—only to resurface on the dinner table of a lumber baron. It’s a story of power and scandal, a story as old as stone: can anyone be king of the hill for long?...

In 1852, Harriet Hosmer packs her pistol, her anatomy degree, and two pictures of a sculpture she made and moves to Rome. There, among other “emancipated women” in the expat colony, she becomes one of the world’s most famous artists. But it’s the spirit world that truly calls to her, the realm of the dead that she channels through clairvoyance and seances. So what happens when she answers? (This e...

Elizabeth Catlett, the granddaughter of enslaved African-Americans, is a struggling artist at the height of Jim Crow. But when she moves to Mexico City in 1946, she finds love, inspiration, and eventually fame. There's just one catch: she can't come home. (This episode first aired in March 2020.) New season begins March 14. Check out her work in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art:...

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood,” wrote Tom Robbins, the novelist. He could have been referring to Henri Rousseau, the fin de siècle autodidact who begins painting seriously in retirement: storybook-style scenes of exotic animals and jungles that eventually catch the eye of Picasso and Matisse. A story worth remembering as you contemplate a new year, same as the old year—or not. You...

It’s good to be the pope in the 1600s. But staying pope is not so easy, as the famous Barberini family finds out when one of their own takes up the tiara in 1623. As Rome fills up with their art, and dungeons fill up with their enemies, can they survive the forces of change threatening their worldview—and the forces of the occult threatening to kill the pope on Christmas Day? You can see some of t...

Rembrandt and Lievens were friends and foes, two of the most promising artists of the Dutch Golden Age. But like Mozart and Salieri, one is remembered as an all-time great, the other is mostly forgotten. Only now is the true story of Rembrandt’s rival being told--a story of ego and admiration, tragedy and triumph, forgery and greed. And it’s rewriting everything we know about the master and the na...

When Gordon Parks becomes the first Black photographer at LIFE magazine, in 1949, he’s determined to show the full measure of Black lives in America. Whether the magazine, and the rest of America, is ready or not. You can see "American Gothic," Parks’ photograph of Ella Watson that is featured in this episode, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/a...

When World War II begins, Lee Miller is one of the most sought-after women in the world--a celebrated model, an irresistible muse, and an emerging photographer in her own right. So why does she trade the high life for the front line, risking everything to become the only female photojournalist allowed in combat?

In the early 1800s, the four famous bronze horses of Venice are restored to their place atop St. Mark's Basilica, after a long and humiliating absence. But when American artist Charles Caryl Coleman arrives in Venice, in the 1870s, his celebrated painting of the horses exposes some clues to their real origins. A story of empire and theft, and a betrayal that forever changed the world. You can see...

Mademoiselle Lange is the first celebrity actress in France, as famous for her lovers as her looks. But when the French Revolution roils the country, she is forced to fight for her life, and meets her match in a rising artist who is commissioned to paint her portrait. A picture that will upend both their lives--and the art world--in dramatic fashion. You can see the scandalous portrait mentioned i...