Museums

Works by the Swedish-born artist include an oversized rubber stamp in Cleveland, a clothespin in Philadelphia and a flashlight in Las Vegas. Oldenburg died July 18. Originally broadcast in 1992.

Parks, who died in 2006, worked for Life magazine and later became the first Black director of a Hollywood film. He's the subject of the documentary, A Choice of Weapons. Originally broadcast in 1990.

Known for his giant hyper-realist paintings of faces, Close kept painting even after a stroke left him partially paralyzed. Close died Aug. 19. Originally broadcast in 1998.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's new film tells the story of an artist who grows up in Nazi Germany, comes of age in East Germany and travels to the West to find freedom for himself and his art.

Five years ago, author and artist Jonathan Santlofer was at home with his wife, food writer Joy Santlofer, when Joy began feeling feverish. Joy, who had undergone outpatient surgery the day before for a torn meniscus in her knee, called her doctor's office and was told to come for her scheduled appointment four days later. That appointment never happened.

In the age of blockbuster art exhibitions, a small show sometimes makes just as big an impression as a large one. That's what happened to critic Lloyd Schwartz on a recent trip to New York.

When author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka was in the fourth grade, his grandparents called him into the living room. "I remember thinking: Oh maybe we're going to go on another family vacation," he says. (The last time they called a family meeting he learned they were going to Disney World.)

Stettheimer, who died in 1944, had only one public showing of her paintings during her lifetime. Now the Jewish Museum in New York has the first new exhibit of her work in more than 20 years.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz turns art critic to talk about the work of the Dutch painter Vermeer. Theres a major show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The inaugural show at the Metropolitan Museum's Met Breuer branch raises the question of what makes a finished work of art. Critic Lloyd Schwartz calls it "an astonishing gathering of masterpieces."

The art world is "fertile ground for criminals," says art scholar Noah Charney. In his new book, The Art of Forgery, he traces a tradition of fakes and forgeries that dates back to the Renaissance.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has assembled one of the largest exhibits of Goya's artwork ever seen in the U.S. His paintings, prints and drawings range in technique from exquisitely refined to raw.

Peter Mendelsund has designed hundreds of book covers, including two new ones of his own: Cover and What We See When We Read. He talks about his process and why "dead authors get the best" covers.

In 1937, two Nazi art shows aimed to teach the public to despise modernist art and show them what art should be. An exhibit at New York's Neue Galerie reunites works from both landmark shows.

New York City is home to more paintings by Johannes Vermeer -- eight -- than any other city. And until mid-January, it's playing host to one more: the world-renowned Girl with a Pearl Earring. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says, since the painting's 1994 restoration, "It's even more breathtaking than I remembered."

In few operas does all the mayhem express what underlies George Benjamin's Written on Skin. The work conveys a profound awareness of human cruelty and its inextricable connection to passion and art.

Claes Oldenburg is one of the best-known American pop artists. Critic Lloyd Schwartz found himself not alone in enjoying the current Oldenburg exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, which continues through Aug. 5.

New York's Museum of Modern Art is currently hosting the first major Willem de Kooning retrospective. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says the exhibit traces the development of de Kooning's entire career, along with the little detours he took along the way.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris have collaborated on a show called Degas and the Nude, which includes pieces from all over the world. Lloyd Schwartz says that in portraits of everyday moments, Degas made women mysterious, vulnerable and heartbreakingly human.

Jon Sarkin was working as a chiropractor when he suffered a massive stroke. Afterwards, he became an obsessive visual artist whose work was as fragmented and cluttered as his mind had become. Sarkin is the subject of a new book, Shadows Bright as Glass, by science writer Amy Nutt.