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The Secret Lives of Artists

Society & Culture Arts

The Museum of Modern Art 3 episodes Oct 15, 2026

A podcast from The Museum of Modern Art that tells lesser-known stories about modern artists, focusing on their secret talents and obsessive side pursuits. Episodes cover figures such as an abstract painter who ran for mayor of New York, a public garden gatekeeper who painted at night, and an avant-garde composer who appeared on a game show as a mushroom expert. Hosted by MoMA content producer Naeem Douglas, each episode blends narration, interviews with special guests, and archival audio.

Episodes

Episode 5: Barnett Newman Oct 15, 2026 19:01 Barnett Newman’s paintings might seem like the intellectual epitome of modern abstraction, but he actively sought to engage with the world through his art. And decades earlier, in 1933, he ran for mayor of New York City. MoMA Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture Ann Temkin, author Amy Newman, and host Naeem Douglas examine the connection between the campaign and the

Episode 4: Minnie Evans Oct 15, 2026 16:31 What happens when an artist spends decades outside the art world, creating work in near obscurity and not because of a lack of talent? For years, Minnie Evans worked as a ticket taker at a garden in Wilmington, North Carolina, while also secretly making drawings and paintings that came to her in spiritual visions. Evans’ great-grandson Wayne Evans, MoMA associate curator Alexandra Adams, and host

Episode 3: Lee Miller Oct 7, 2026 21:52 Model, muse, artist, photojournalist, inventor, mother, chef. Lee Miller had many lives in the 20th century. We are only just now grasping her impact as a photographer in Surrealist Paris in the 1930s and as a photojournalist documenting the toll of war. Miller’s son, Antony Penrose, narrates the discovery of thousands of negatives in the attic, which led to a new understanding of the scope of her

Episode 2: John Cage Oct 7, 2026 14:38 John Cage is best known as a revolutionary composer who expanded the definition of music to include sound, silence, and chance. But while he was working on his art, Cage couldn’t stop thinking about mushrooms. MoMA assistant curator Alison Burstein, Cage scholars and fellow foragers Howard Risati and Ray Kass, and host Naeem Douglas discuss Cage’s groundbreaking compositions and his obsession with

Episode 1: Marcel Duchamp Oct 7, 2026 20:43 Marcel Duchamp rewrote the rules of modern art, but also happened to be obsessed with one of the most rule-bound games ever invented: chess. MoMA Chief Curator Ann Temkin, Duchamp scholar Francis Naumann, and host Naeem Douglas retrace Duchamp’s journey from a provocative young artist to a devoted chess player and ask whether the strategy he brought to the board also appears in the choices that de

The Secret Lives of Artists

Episodes

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