The Throne may be as much a reflection of post-atomic American anxiety as any work of art by Jackson Pollock or John Cage. Eliza Macdonald, an intern at the Smithsonian American Art Museum ...

When viewing paintings, people usually focus on what they can see. But often, the stories behind the painting — from how it was made to how it got to a museum — are just as interesting.

What, exactly, is the “value” of a work of art? I have been asking myself this question since I read an Asahi Shimbun story about the Tokushima Modern Art Museum’s announcement that an oil ...