Verso: An Art History Podcast

Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, and Who Really Invented Abstract Art

In 1914, Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky showed work in the same building in Malmö. He had five paintings in the grand galleries and a reviewer comparing them to bac

John Singer Sargent, Madame X, and The Strap That Scandalized Paris

In 1884, John Singer Sargent unveiled a portrait at the Paris Salon that he was certain would make him the most celebrated painter in France. Instead, a single fallen sho

The Mystery of the Lost Amber Room

The Amber Room was an entire chamber made of carved amber, backed in gold, and once called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Prussia built it, gave it to Russia, and the Na

The Art Thief and His Attic Full of Masterpieces

Stéphane Breitwieser stole more than 200 works of art from the museums of Europe, hid them in his mother's attic, and swore he was never a thief. No masks, no weapons, no

The Salon des Refusés: How Napoleon III Accidentally Opened the Door to Modern Art

In 1863, the Paris Salon rejected thousands of paintings, including Édouard Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe, and a nervous Napoleon III made a snap political decision: exhib

The Painter and the Guillotine

Jacques-Louis David painted Antoine and Marie Anne Lavoisier in 1788, in one of the most famous portraits of the 18th century. Six years later, Lavoisier was guillotined

When Bob Dylan Traded an Andy Warhol Painting for a Couch

In 1966, Bob Dylan left Andy Warhol's Factory with a silver Elvis painting tied to the roof of his car, then traded it for a couch. This episode follows that Double Elvis

Whistler v. Ruskin: The Trial Over a Pot of Paint

In 1877, the most powerful art critic in Britain published a review calling the painter James McNeill Whistler a fraud. Whistler sued him for libel. What followed was a t

Robert Mapplethorpe and the Corcoran: The Imperfect Moment

In 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art canceled a Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibition to protect the NEA from a congressional culture war. The decision backfired spe

The Disappearance of Agnes Martin

In the summer of 1967, Agnes Martin walked into a New York gallery, handed over her brushes, her canvases, and her stretchers, and asked the dealer to give them away to y

Han van Meegeren: The Last Vermeer

In 1945, Dutch painter Han van Meegeren was arrested for selling a stolen Vermeer to Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering. His defense: he hadn't sold a Vermeer at all. He'd

How Michelangelo's David Became Everybody's Symbol

Michelangelo's David was commissioned for a cathedral buttress 150 feet off the ground. But it quickly became one of the most potent political symbols in all of art histo

Bernini vs Borromini, Part II - What Winning Actually Costs

TW: Discussions of suicide In Part Two of our deep dive into the Bernini and Borromini rivalry, the stakes get personal. With a new pope in power and Bernini in disgrace

Bernini vs Borromini, Part I - The Rivalry that Shaped Rome

In 17th century Rome, architecture wasn't just art, it was power. The Catholic Church was fighting to reassert its authority over a changing world, and the artists who co

Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Vincent van Gogh Immortal

You know Vincent van Gogh: Sunflowers. Starry nights. The guy who cut off his ear. One of the most famous artists in history. But you probably don't know Jo van Gogh-Bon

KILL LIES ALL: Tony Shafrazi and the Vandalism of Guernica

In February 1974, a young artist named Tony Shafrazi walked into the Museum of Modern Art, pulled out a can of cherry-red spray paint, and wrote "KILL LIES ALL" across Pi

The Mark Rothko Estate Trial: The Art World's Own Little Watergate

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide In 1970, Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko was found dead in his New York studio, leaving behind nearly 800 paintings wor

The Ghent Altarpiece, Part III - The Toothache That Saved the Ghent Altarpiece

Adolf Hitler believed the Ghent Altarpiece contained a coded map to supernatural relics that would grant him power. He and Hermann Göring competed to possess it. They bui

The Ghent Altarpiece, Part II - The Theft No One Wanted to Solve

On April 11, 1934, The Righteous Judges and Saint John the Baptist panels from the Ghent Altarpiece vanished from Saint Bavo Cathedral. The investigation was bungled from

The Ghent Altarpiece, Part I - The Art of Protection

In 1432, Jan and Hubert van Eyck completed a painting so revolutionary it changed art forever. The Ghent Altarpiece introduced techniques no one had seen before—transluce