The Object
The Object is a podcast from the Minneapolis Institute of Art that explores the surprising, true stories behind museum objects with wit and curiosity. Each episode offers an object's view of us, revealing the hidden narratives and human connections embedded in art and artifacts.
Episodes
The Woman in Black
Journalist Eric Kelsey was already familiar with "Sonja," the enigmatic portrait sometimes called the German Mona Lisa: a woman in black with short hair and cigarettes, sitting in a cafe. An iconic image of free-spirited Weimar Berlin almost since it was painted by Christian Schad in 1928. Then he realized who she really was.
Kelsey has now spent years researching his connection to "Sonja" and th
The Object LIVE! Talk Dürer to Me!
This electrifying, sold-out live show of The Object podcast was recorded May 21, 2026, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art with host Tim Gihring and very special musical guests from the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers with Philip Brunelle conducting and playing the virginal (we had the same question; you'll have to listen to find out). It's a celebration of the 555th birthday of Albrecht Dürer, with
Encore Episode: What Happened to the First Gay Art Star?
Simeon Solomon—bold, dashing, and openly gay—is a rising star in the Victorian art world when a scandal in 1873 supposedly forces him into obscurity, a cautionary tale for fans like Oscar Wilde. But the truth is more complicated and only now coming to light, revealing the fate of this forgotten figure as both more tragic and more inspiring.
You can see an “allegorical self-portrait” here, from the
The Return of the Owl
In the 1940s, an heir to the Pillsbury flour fortune acquires an ancient Chinese bronze vessel, thousands of years old, in the form of an extremely charming owl. An instant visitor favorite at the Minneapolis Institute of Art—until, a couple of years ago, it falls from its perch. A story of the things we carry through time, what survives and what does not, and the recent miraculous resurrection of
Encore Episode: The Photographer in Hitler's Bath
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?
You can see photographs of Lee Miller in her modeling days—and photographs taken by Mil
The Exile Who Never Left
In the early 1930s, Max Beckmann is the biggest thing in Germany, the übermensch of art with his larger-than-life paintings and ego to match, peering over a champagne glass at the beautiful free spirits in the cabarets. But when Hitler takes over, Beckmann is in his crosshairs, forced to choose between creative freedom and the country he loves. An epic story of war and resilience, the sweep of hi
Encore Episode: The Ghost of Hokusai
It is the stuff of legend: Claude Monet discovers Japanese art in the late 1800s, something clicks, and he goes on to become the most famous artist in the world. But one of his greatest influences on the other side of the earth is a mystery, the artist behind the “great wave” and hundreds of other iconic images. The artist who calls himself Hokusai (at least for a time)—and won't be nearly as luck
The Other Monet
It's the Season 8 premiere! Claude Monet, by the 1900s, is the most famous artist in the world, a singular genius (if not exactly genial). But there is another Monet: Blanche Hoschedé Monet. The only artist Claude Monet takes under his wing—and almost completely forgotten, until now.
A story of what it means to be an artist, and what happens when your story is not your own. You can see Hoschedé Mo
Encore Episode: Finding Fanny, the Model who Disappeared
New season begins March 16! Now, an encore episode that was our most popular story a few seasons ago. About a woman who was once of the most recognizable in the world, her long copper hair filling painting after painting, even if few people knew her name: Fanny Cornforth. Model, muse, and mistress to the most influential artists of the Victorian era, who she still had to fight for everything she
Fireside Stories: Bursting, Twisting, Sticking, Spilling
Season 8 of The Object begins March 16! All-new episodes, bonus content, and more about the almost famous, the nearly lost, and more surprising true stories at the intersection of art and history. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode!
Now, enjoy the second in our bonus series of Fireside Stories: The incredible, fast, and forgotten life of painter Bob Thompson. The original Basquiat, seeming
The Object LOVE! Don't Go Breaking My Art!
This rollicking, sold-out live show of The Object podcast was recorded February 7, 2026, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art with host Tim Gihring and musical guest jeremy messersmith. It's our Valentine's show, with quizzes, storytelling, and curator conversation all about the gods in—and often out of—love.
Messersmith, a NPR Tiny Desk alum whose new song F••• This has become a viral hit, perfor
Encore Episode: The Curious Celebrity of God's Sculptor
One month to go until the new season of The Object premieres! Subscribe so you don't miss it, and in the meantime enjoy bonus and encore episodes like this one from early in The Object archives.
William Edmondson is a middle-aged laborer in Nashville, Tennessee, at the height of the Great Depression, when God tells him to carve a tombstone. Soon, he's the first African American artist to have a so
Encore Episode: A Woman Called Wanda
Free tickets are going fast for the next live taping of The Object podcast with special guest jeremy messersmith on February 7 in Mia’s historic Pillsbury Auditorium. A Valentine's show with jeremy performing live, storytelling, and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" style quizzes, all about the art of love. It’s The Object LIVE!—everything you love about the podcast, live on stage. Reserve your free ticke
Fireside Stories: The Gods of Compassion
Free tickets are going fast for our next live taping of The Object podcast with special guest musician Jeremy Messersmith, quizzes, and storytelling—all about the art of love. February 7 at 2PM in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium at our home museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art. A place to come together in love, beauty, and reflection. Get tickets and details at the Tickets page at Artsmia.or
Letter from Van Gogh: A New Year's Minisode
Big news: Free tickets are now available starting January 7 at 9:30 a.m. (CST) for the next live taping of The Object podcast. It's our Valentine's show on February 7 at 2 p.m. with special guest musician jeremy messersmith in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
The Object LOVE! Don't Go Breaking My Art! will include fun quizzes and prizes, music, curator conver
Encore Episode: How to Live Forever (or Die Trying)
NEWS! Tickets will be available starting January 7 for The Object LOVE!, our very Valentine's live show with special guest jeremy messersmith on February 7 in the Minneapolis Institute of Art's historic Pillsbury Auditorium. All about the gods in (and often out of) love, whose stories have long captured our imagination in art. Tickets are free but limited—go to the tickets page at the Mia website
The Missing Tapestries of Helena Hernmarck
Brand-new episode: Swedish textile artist Helena Hernmarck became an international art star making monumental tapestries, an ancient art she gave a modern Pop Art twist starting in the 1960s. Some 260 commissioned works in all, often for corporate settings. But as the corporate world changed, and her tapestries changed hands, at least two dozen have gone missing. Now, at 84, she's scrambling to tr
Encore Episode: A Christmas Conspiracy
Tickets will be available soon for The Object LOVE!, a very Valentine’s edition of our live taping of the podcast, happening February 7 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, with quizzes, storytelling, and very special musical guest jeremy messersmith, all about the gods in (and out of) love!
It’s good to be the pope in the 1600s. But staying pope is not so easy, as the famous Barberini family find
The Object LIVE! Great Gatsby's Ghost!
This third sold-out live show of The Object podcast was recorded October 30, 2025, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art with special guest Chan Poling of The Suburbs and New Standards. Quizzes, storytelling, and curator conversation all centered on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his near-miraculous creation of The Great Gatsby, inspired by the cover art and a girl he met sledding in St. Paul.
A big thank-
Encore Episode: The Photographer Who Unvanished
In the 1890s, B.A. Haldane sets up a photography studio in Alaska and begins documenting the vibrant life of his Tsimshian community—even as non-Native photographers like Edward Curtis are trekking to reservations, documenting what they believe is a "vanishing race.” Quietly contradicting a president and scientists steeped in theories of white supremacy and evolution, Haldane and other Native arti
The Lost City That Wasn't
Tickets for The Object LIVE! on October 30 are now sold out, but some tickets will be available at the door! And if you have tickets already, don't forget to come to our hour-long live taping of The Object podcast with very special guest Chan Poling of The Suburbs and New Standards, quizzes, and storytelling at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Part of a full evening of activities at the Minneapol
Encore Episode: Finding Unicorns
Tickets are going fast for our next exclusive live taping of The Object podcast on October 30 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, with special guest Chan Poling (The Suburbs, The New Standards), fun quizzes, curator conversation, and of course storytelling—all about the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby and the art of the Jazz Age. Tickets are absolutely FREE but you do need to have them. Go
Encore Episode: Frida and Diego's American Dream
Big news! Tickets are now available for the next edition of The Object LIVE! Our hour-long live taping of The Object podcast on October 30, with very special guest Chan Poling of The Suburbs and New Standards, quizzes, and storytelling. All about the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby, the joys of jazz and St. Paul, and maybe the proper occasion to wear an ascot. Which is quite possibly this sh
When Trees Could Talk
Vienna in the early 1900s is a kind of paradise of power and beauty, the center of an empire that will seemingly go on forever. Only an eccentric young artist, who sees faces in trees and finds God in the forest, seems to understand the fall that is coming. A loss of innocence that will consume him—and much of the world.
You can see the work of Egon Schiele, Josef Hoffman, and the other artists, d
Encore Episode: The Department of Missing Limbs
Save the date: The next live taping of The Object podcast will be October 30 at 7 p.m. at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, absolutely free. Special guest and ticket info coming soon. Now, enjoy this encore episode about 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? And how have we come to tr
The Curator in the Wall
Truth and fiction collide in two stories of museum life. One of a curator who goes missing in the 1950s. The other of a curator who finds himself in the aftermath of World War I, a life chronicled in diaries recently found inside a forgotten storage space. A life filled with beauty and tragedy and the redemptive power of art.
Save the date: The next live taping of The Object is October 30 at 7 p.
Encore Episode: The Mountain That Came to Dinner
Save the date: The next free live taping of The Object podcast will be October 30 at 7 p.m.! Special guests and ticket info TBA. Now, enjoy this encore episode about one of the largest jade sculptures in the world, a 640-pound mountain commissioned by the Chinese emperor. In 1901, in the ugly aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, it ends up leaving China—only to resurface on the dinner table of a lum
That Got Weird: The Renaissance You Never Knew
The Renaissance, which began in Italy some 700 years ago, may be one of the last true ideals we have. It's this beacon of beauty and truth that led us out of the Dark Ages. It gave us Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. But the Renaissance was also extremely, delightfully weird. A story of what happens when repression recedes and freedom moves in—and how this strangeness gave us our mode
Encore Episode: How to Break the World
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
The Box That Mary Left
New episode! In the 1920s and ’30s, Mary Sully makes her way from Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota to New York City and then around the country, making surprising, delightfully abstract portraits of American celebrities: Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple, Amelia Earhart. “Personality prints,” she calls them, though the most intriguing personality they reveal might be her own. A personality and
Encore Episode: The Wonderful Wizard of Iowa
Kicking off Pride Month with a surprisingly epic encore episode about Grant Wood. In the 1930s, the Iowa artist is one of the most famous people in America. The mind behind "American Gothic"—the painting of the man, the woman, and the pitchfork. An artwork so celebrated and so curious it’s called the “modern Mona Lisa.” But as times change and jealousy spreads, Wood suddenly finds himself fightin
The Object LIVE! Your Lobster is Ringing!
This second sold-out live show of The Object podcast was recorded with an enthusiastic audience at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on May 11, 2025—Salvador Dalí's birthday, with our special guest: musician and writer Dessa. Quizzes, performances, storytelling, curator conversation—it's all here, all about Dalí, Surrealism, wit in art, and of course the creation of his famous (possibly functional?
Encore Episode: The Dragons Next Door
The next live taping of The Object is May 11—the show is sold out, but don't forget to come if you have tickets and watch for the next live taping coming up.
This encore episode reprises last year's popular episode about one of our oldest relationships with a non-human: dragons, and the very different ways we've imagined them in different parts of the world. Helping or hurting, making rain or bre
The Ghost of Hokusai
New episode! It is the stuff of legend, how Claude Monet discovers Japanese art in the late 1800s and becomes one of the most famous artists in the world. But one influence is as real as he is mysterious. The artist behind the "great wave" and hundreds of other iconic images. The artist who calls himself Hokusai (at least for a time), and only becomes more powerful after he's gone.
You can see art
Encore episode: The Making of Monet
If you snagged tickets to the next live taping of The Object, with Dessa, on May 11—nice work! They're now sold out. In the meantime, enjoy this encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes ever. He was the original rebel with a cause, dedicated to showing the world a new way of seeing. But what if Claude Monet's real cause was...Claude Monet? What if his rise from scorn and poverty to
Can You Hear Me Now?
Big news! It’s the first episode of Season 7 AND tickets are now available for the next live taping of The Object podcast, featuring musical guest Dessa, quizzes, curator conversation, and storytelling on Sunday, May 11, at 2 p.m. at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. All about surrealism, humor in art, and Mia’s beloved Aphrodisiac Telephone by Salvador Dalí—on his 121st birthday! It’s “Your Lobst
Encore episode: Yard Show: The World According to Joe
The seventh season of The Object begins March 24!
Today, an encore presentation of an episode about Joe Minter and the "yard show" artists of Alabama. Thirty-five years ago, Joe Minter received a vision. Soon, his half-acre property outside Birmingham, Alabama, began to fill with sculpture—reflections on everything from slavery to 9/11 to climate change—fashioned out of junk: car parts, toys, indu
Encore episode: Love Among the Ruins
Season 7 of The Object starts March 24! Here, a special episode from the archives about Love and Art in capital letters.
When the young Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani moves to Paris, in the early 1900s, he soon meets a very talented (and very married) Russian poet. What happens when Love and Art come together, as the rest of the world is falling apart?
You can see one of Modigliani’s iconic Head
The Object LIVE! Manet Touché!
This first-ever live show of The Object podcast (recorded at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on January 23, 2025) features music and storytelling celebrating French painter Édouard Manet and his Impressionist friends and frenemies (yes you, Monet). Watch for more live shows coming soon!
You can see one of Manet's portraits, as discussed on the show, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute
Fly Me to the Sun: A Bonus New Year Episode
Most of us know the Icarus myth, of the young man who soars too close to the sun—or at least we think we do. But there's more to the story. And at various times in history, the takeaway has changed. As a new year begins, it's worth revisiting the classic tale: how high, or how low, do you want to go?
You can see several takes on the Icarus story in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of
Cold Comfort: The Ghosts of Winters Past
For our final episode of Season 6, it’s an ode to winter. A winter of frozen London rivers and snowy Japanese villages—the kind we rarely have anymore if we ever really did. A winter of art and literature, of pure and plentiful snow—a “wintry mix” we can all appreciate.
A standout winter painting (and recent addition to Mia’s collection) is this Winter Landscape by the Finnish painter David Joha
Yes, We Can-Can: How the Moulin Rouge Made Us Modern
When the Moulin Rouge opens in Paris, in 1889—a faux windmill spinning over the entrance, a two-story elephant opening to reveal an orchestra inside—the world is changing quickly. The first film comes out that same day. Electric lights are enlivening the night. The old Victorian morals are being challenged, perhaps nowhere moreso than at this new bohemian cabaret where rich and poor are coming tog
Bonus episode: Talking Wanda Gág with Lizzi Ginsberg
Lizzi Ginsberg is the Chicago-based writer and researcher who guest-hosted our recent episode on Wanda Gág, the Minnesota-raised artist who went on to fame and some fortune in New York writing and illustrating quirky, beloved books like "Millions of Cats." Here, Ginsberg shares what drew her to Gág and the charming, sometimes tragic story of a woman deliberately both behind and ahead of her time.
A Woman Called Wanda
Wanda Gág may be the talented, bob-sporting, fiercely independent, 1920s celebrity cat mom you didn't know you needed right now. Guest host Lizzi Ginsberg looks back at the author and illustrator of “Millions of Cats,” her surprising life and recent revival.
You can see her charmingly inventive prints in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art here: https://collections.artsmia.org/se
Finding Buddha: The Collector at the Top of the World
In 1959, a couple of young women from New York find themselves in the Himalayas—an unlikely story of adventure, royal romance, and spiritual awakening that would eventually result in one of the greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist art in the West. This episode, an experiment in sound and storytelling, explores the incredible convergence of myth and faith, vanished kingdoms and an American prin
Dog Days: What Our Pets Say About Us
Art and dogs are like our shadows across time: whatever we're up to, whatever values we hold, eventually it all shows up in our art and our dogs. So what can we learn from looking at art about dogs—about our pets and ourselves?
You can see "Your Dog," the giant sculpture mentioned in this episode, in the current exhibition "Domestic Idols" at Mia, and right here: https://collections.artsmia.org/a
Endless Summer: Can You Really Leave it All Behind?
Santiago Rusiñol is a newly married heir to a Barcelona textile fortune when he decides to become an artist in Paris instead, in the 1880s, influencing Picasso and inventing a new vocabulary for modern art. But when he comes across an idyllic seaside village, back in Spain, his quest for meaning becomes a question: what are we running from? Can we be satisfied with what already exists?
You can se
For Queen and Country: The Woman who Won Paris
The daughter of a struggling artist, Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun wins the hearts of the French aristocracy—including Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI—with her sensitive portraits. But it's their heads she should be worried about, and when the Revolution hits she has to make a difficult choice. A remarkable story of freedom, and the lengths we'll go to keep it.
You can see her work in the collectio
American Illusion: The Wonderful Wizard of Iowa
In the 1930s, Grant Wood is one of the most famous people in America, the artist behind "American Gothic"—the painting of the man, the woman, and the pitchfork, standing outside their house. An artwork so celebrated and so curious it’s called the “modern Mona Lisa.” But as times change and jealousy spreads, Wood suddenly finds himself fighting for his life and livelihood, protecting a secret he hi
Encore episode: The Car that Killed
On the 90th anniversary of the groundbreaking Tatra automobile, we bring you this encore episode from The Object's first season. A story of the last major war in Europe, when nothing seemed capable of slowing the Third Reich—except, the legend goes, the very fast, very unusual Tatra car from Czechoslovakia. A poignant tale of poetic justice, grace in wartime, and the utopian future that wasn't. Yo
Fire and Rain: The Dragons Next Door
People have always imagined dragons among them. But they have always imagined them very differently: helping or hurting, making rain or breathing fire. The difference, of course, is us. A brief, beastly history of the creature we can't live with—or without.
You can see many manifestations of dragons, Asian and European, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.a
Yard Show: The World According to Joe
Thirty-five years ago, Joe Minter received a vision. Soon, his half-acre property outside Birmingham, Alabama, began to fill with sculpture—reflections on everything from slavery to 9/11 to climate change—fashioned out of junk: car parts, toys, industrial detritus, gizmos of all sorts. An elaborate example of the Southern Black tradition of the “yard show," with Minter as its genial showman. Now,
Wait for It
The premiere of Season 6! When the work of a brilliant but forgotten artist falls into the lap of a curator, it suggests something uniquely human: pleasure is good, unexpected pleasure even better. But when the surprises keep coming, years later, the story becomes both a mystery and a meditation on patience.
You can see the art of Richard Holzschuh here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Hol
Encore episode: The O’Keeffe We Never Knew
One week until Season 6 begins (March 11)! Here's a bonus encore episode, a highlight from a couple seasons ago about Georgia O'Keeffe and the loner legend that followed her to the end. In the early 1970s, when an ambitious curator comes calling, it seems the head ghost of Ghost Ranch is in fact the host with the most—and hardly ever alone. A fresh look at a myth we can’t stop believing.
Bonus Episode: Dance Like Everyone’s Watching
It was a mystery: two dancers—one white, one Black—captured on stage in 1959 in a photograph found in a museum archive. Who were they? But a search for their identity uncovers much more: a forgotten history of art and integration. When the pursuit of modern ideals promised a better world, and the pursuit of art promised personal freedom. The farther from the New York spotlight, the better. You can
Encore episode: Secrets of the Veiled Lady
They are illusions, no more real than someone being sawed in half onstage. Yet the veiled ladies that Raffaelle Monti sculpts in the 1800s are very real to him. Poignant symbols of an identity he’s forced to conceal, even as they make him famous. As we prepare for Season 6, it’s an encore episode that first aired in 2021, a story of pride and prejudice and dreams just out of reach.
Here you can s
American Epic: Looking for Ella Watson
In 1942—years before becoming the first Black photographer for Life magazine, the director of Shaft, and a style icon the New York Times will hail as the “godfather of cool”—Gordon Parks is a young, ambitious photographer in Washington, D.C., struggling to document the injustice he’s found in the nation’s capital. Until, one day, he meets Ella Watson. Illustrating her life in photographs changes b
Give and Take: The Weird, Wonderful Art of the Gift
From the gift of fire to Pandora’s Box to the original white elephant, the long history of giving is also the history of receiving—a relationship fraught with desire, dubious intentions, and occasional disaster. It’s a playful journey down a winding chimney: four stories about our need to present each other with presents.
You can see Man Ray’s “Cadeau,” discussed in this episode, here: https://co
Shooting Back: The Photographer Who Unvanished
In the 1890s, B.A. Haldane sets up a photography studio in Alaska and begins documenting the vibrant life of his Tsimshian community—even as non-Native photographers like Edward Curtis are trekking to reservations, documenting what they believe is a "vanishing race.” Quietly contradicting a president and scientists steeped in theories of white supremacy and evolution, Haldane and others offer an a
Goodbye, Columbus: Frida and Diego’s American Dream
In the fall of 1930, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera travel to the United States for the first time, welcomed as celebrity artists, ambassadors of an ancient and powerful Latin American identity. But as the months turn to years, can Rivera’s vision of one united Pan-America--and their young marriage--survive the pressures of politics, fame, temptation, cultural differences, and scandal?
You can see
Water for Spirits: The Circus Star Who Became a Goddess
An ancient African water spirit, Portuguese slave traders, and a snake charmer traveling with the circus--incredibly, all of their stories collide in a narrative that spans centuries, continents, and the best and worst of human instincts. How do we find resilience among the wreckage? How do we shape the spirit world when this one has failed?
You can see the Mami Wata figure discussed in this epi
Finding Fanny: The Model Who Disappeared
She was one of the most recognizable women in the world, her long copper hair filling painting after painting, even if few people knew her name: Cornforth. Model, muse, and mistress to the most influential artists of the Victorian era, she still had to fight for everything she got. Until, in the end, she lost the one thing she could count on for sure: herself.
You can see in this 1868 painting,
Making Monet: The Invention of Genius
He rose from scorn and poverty to become one of the most beloved and wealthy artists in history—the original rebel with a cause, dedicated to showing the world a new way of seeing. But what if Claude Monet's real cause was...Claude Monet? What if his rise was fueled by marketing, myth, and money? Can we still love him anyway?
Dangerous Liaisons: What Happened to the First Gay Art Star?
Simeon Solomon—bold, dashing, and openly gay —is a rising star in the Victorian art world when a scandal in 1873 supposedly forces him into obscurity, a cautionary tale for fans like Oscar Wilde. But the truth is more complicated and only now coming to light, revealing the fate of this forgotten figure as both more tragic and more inspiring.
You can see an “allegorical self-portrait” here, from th
How to Break the World
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
Revealing History: The Naked and the Nude
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-seate
Breaking Good: The Department of Missing Limbs
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
Encore episode: The Black Musketeer: A Swashbuckling Tale of Race and Revenge
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
Bonus episode: When a Kiss is Just a Kiss
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
Do You Feel Lucky? A Bonus Episode for the New Year
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
A Christmas Fable: The Sinner and the Saint
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 Mi
Photographer of Fortune: The Man Who Shot America
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
Ghost Ships Of Xu Fu
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
Lost and Found: The Possibly True Story of America’s First Black Artist
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 Joh
Seeing Ourselves in Animals: An Unnatural History
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 p
Escape Velocity: The Woman Who Left the World
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
How to Live Forever (or Die Trying)
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 sculptur
Black Musketeer: A Swashbuckling Tale of Race and Revenge
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 Minn
Hiding in Plain Sight: The O’Keeffe We Never Knew
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 on
King of Hills: The Mountain That Came to Dinner
(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?
