Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange
The photograph that became the face of the Great Depression: who the mother was, what Lange said about the moment, the thumb that was retouched away, and where the negatives are held.
Contributor
The Editors
The Pantheon in Rome
A Roman temple turned church, with a concrete dome nearly nineteen centuries old and a single open hole to the sky. How the Pantheon was built, what most visitors miss, and how to visit it.
Zurbarán at the Louvre
Until 25 January 2027 at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. A rare chance to see the painter of Spain’s monasteries and its quietest still lifes at full strength.
The Bayeux Tapestry returns to England, at the British Museum
Until 11 July 2027 at the British Museum, London. For the first time since it was made nearly a thousand years ago, the 70-metre embroidery of 1066 is back in England.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
A goddess lands on the prow of a warship, her robes whipped by the wind. She has no head and no arms, and she is still the most dramatic arrival in the Louvre.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
The most famous image in Japanese art was a cheap print sold in thousands of copies. It is a picture of Mount Fuji, and the mountain is the smallest thing in it.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Nobody knows who she is, and she was never meant to be anyone. The pearl has no hook, the background was once a green curtain, and the painting once sold for almost nothing.
