If You Thought Art Museums Were Boring. . . 

Guest: Jennifer Dasal, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art; creator and host of the podcast ArtCurious; author of “ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History”

Forget linear perspective and chiaroscuro, let's get the stories behind the masterpieces: maybe Van Gogh was murdered and didn't commit suicide after all; the woman who pushed Norman Rockwell in a more political direction; the secret CIA funding that was poured into abstract expressionism. Art has never been so engaging before. Take a listen and you'll get a whole new look at the art world.  

 

Stealing the Mona Lisa

Guest: Noah Charney, Professor of Art History at the American University of Rome and at University of Ljubljana; Founding Director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA); author of "The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: On Stealing the World’s Most Famous Painting"

The Mona Lisa has long been known for her enigmatic smile. But her fame is due to more than that mysterious look on her face. In fact, it was a 1911 heist that transformed the Mona Lisa from one among many masterworks to the most famous painting in the world.