Every year, thousands of artists compete to get their work in front of millions of hot, bothered, blood-sugar-spiked visitors at the Minnesota State Fair. It's a tradition that goes back almost to the very beginning of the fair—and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, whose influence permeates the Fine Arts Building like the scent of so many Pronto Pups. Here, how the unnatural marriage of art and gluttony came to be, and what it says about our great egalitarian get-together.

You can see the best of the fair's popular seed-art display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in "Cream of the Crop: The Second Harvest," starting September 19. 

You'll can see art of the fair in the museum's collection online or in person by appointment in its Photography Study Room.

Also, SAVE THE DATE! Our next live taping of The Object podcast will be November 15 at 2 p.m. in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium of the Minneapolis Institute of Art with special musical guest Chastity Brown! Featuring quizzes, curator conversation, music, and storytelling all about the women artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance on its 100th anniversary. 

Back when The Odyssey was written down, some 2,700 years ago, the greatest thing you could do in life was to die. A glorious death in battle was the path to immortality for, well, mortals. An idea that resurfaces throughout history until fairly recently—when it meets its match in a war of many deaths and little glory. Whether you've seen the new Odyssey film with Matt Damon or not, this episode will give a sense of the central conflict—to seek glory abroad or comfort at home.

You can see the "Kiss of Victory" sculpture that kicks off the episode, and launched the career of Sir Alfred Gilbert, here in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

Also, SAVE THE DATE: Our next live taping of The Object podcast will be November 15 at 2 p.m. in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium of the Minneapolis Institute of Art with special musical guest Chastity Brown! Featuring quizzes, curator conversation, music, and storytelling all about the women artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance on its 100th anniversary. 

Learn more about The Object LIVE!, our series of live podcast tapings here. 

Even when horses were transportation, they were also transportive, inspiring poetry and art and sometimes war. Here, in the Year of the Horse, we recount the incredible saga of the so-called Celestial Horse, a breed from central Asia that seemed to represent everything good about this world and the next, driving a Chinese emperor mad with envy and sending tens of thousands of men to their doom. A story of power and beauty and the eternal wish for immortality.

You can see a bronze statue of the Celestial Horse through August 9 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in "Year of the Horse: Hoofbeats Through Time" in the Bell Family Decorative Arts Court.

Also, SAVE THE DATE: Our next live taping of The Object podcast will be November 15 at 2 p.m. in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium of the Minneapolis Institute of Art with special musical guest Chastity Brown! Featuring quizzes, curator conversation, music, and storytelling all about the women artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance on its 100th anniversary. 

Learn more about The Object LIVE!, our series of live podcast tapings here. 

Santiago Rusiñol is a newly married heir to a Barcelona textile fortune when he decides to become an artist in Paris instead, in the 1880s, influencing Picasso and inventing a new vocabulary for modern art. But when he comes across an idyllic seaside village back in Spain, he starts to paint an ideal life, including a quiet, summery patio you’d want to move into and never leave. And then he paints more patios and gardens until his quest for meaning becomes a question: What are we running from? Can we ever be satisfied with what already exists?

You can see one of Rusiñol's stunning patio pictures, recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, in gallery 355, the perfect ode to summer escape.

You’ll also find free summer programs at Mia every week through September, including outdoor concerts, food trucks, art-making, and more. Check out the calendar at Artsmia.org.

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It is one of the greatest artworks of the Italian Renaissance, and for the better part of a century it was rolled up in storage. A tapestry—the art form of popes, kings, and emperors—bigger than any painting that has ever come to America from 16th-century Italy. Made in the famous Medici gardens where the Renaissance was nurtured. Hidden away at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Until now.

A story of power and glory, luck and determination—and Dante and Virgil, the two poets of "The Inferno" poised at the brink of hell in the tapestry. (Oh, and Beatrice, Dante's muse—she manages to get in the story, too.) A tapestry that is once again on view for a few months only. Until back to storage it goes.

A big thank-you to Max Bryant, curator of European decorative art at Mia, who tells us of his incredible discovery, why tapestry is underrated, and more.

You can see the tapestry from July 11, 2026, through January 31, 2027, in "Back from the Underworld" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

And you can read more about Dante and Virgil's hellish meeting at Beatrice's behest in a fine analysis here by poet and scholar Diane Mehta.

Journalist Eric Kelsey was already familiar with "Sonja," the enigmatic portrait sometimes called the German Mona Lisa: a woman in black with short hair and cigarettes, sitting in a cafe. An iconic image of free-spirited Weimar Berlin almost since it was painted by Christian Schad in 1928. Then he realized who she really was. 

Kelsey has now spent years researching his connection to "Sonja" and the dramatic true story of a life of luck and love, cruelty and tragedy, as Weimar Germany gave way to Nazi Germany. A story of the individual human dramas behind big history—and who gets to tell them when the private becomes public. 

"Sonja" is the face of the groundbreaking traveling exhibition "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin".  You can see her—and more than 70 other paintings and sculptures from the National Gallery of Germany—at the Minneapolis Institute of Art through July 19, 2026. 

Wherever you're listening, subscribe so you never miss an episode. 

This electrifying, sold-out live show of The Object podcast was recorded May 21, 2026, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art with host Tim Gihring and very special musical guests from the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers with Philip Brunelle conducting and playing the virginal (we had the same question; you'll have to listen to find out). It's a celebration of the 555th birthday of Albrecht Dürer, with quizzes, storytelling, and curator conversation all about the greatest printmaker of the Renaissance—maybe of all time.

Brunelle became a church organist at age 14, was one of the youngest musicians hired by the Minnesota Orchestra, and has led the VocalEssence choir—one of the country's most decorated—since 1969. Here, he leads a quartet in songs from Dürer's time and place, plays a quiz, and talks about his life in music. Mia Director and President Katie Luber explains why she has long been enamored of Dürer and the Renaissance. And Gihring tells the story of Dürer's remarkable life and art.

A big thank-you to Brunelle, the VocalEssence quartet (Katie Boardman, Cat Terres, Andy McCullough, and David Gindra), and show runner Dexter Carlson, who donned a Tyrolean loden hat and made the magic happen for one of our most engaging shows yet.

Please note: the musical segment was performed as acoustically as possible to maintain the historic nature of the work, so you may have to bump the volume up at that time.

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Simeon Solomon—bold, dashing, and openly gay—is a rising star in the Victorian art world when a scandal in 1873 supposedly forces him into obscurity, a cautionary tale for fans like Oscar Wilde. But the truth is more complicated and only now coming to light, revealing the fate of this forgotten figure as both more tragic and more inspiring.

You can see an “allegorical self-portrait” here, from the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

You can see his haunting masterwork “Love in Autumn” here. 

In the 1940s, an heir to the Pillsbury flour fortune acquires an ancient Chinese bronze vessel, thousands of years old, in the form of an extremely charming owl. An instant visitor favorite at the Minneapolis Institute of Art—until, a couple of years ago, it falls from its perch. A story of the things we carry through time, what survives and what does not, and the recent miraculous resurrection of the Pillsbury Owl.

You can see the charismatic owl here, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and now once again on display in the museum itself.

You can read more about oracle bones, an ancient fortune-telling practice that plays an important role in this story, here.

Leave us a review, in stars or words, wherever you listen—it really does mean a lot. And please subscribe so you never miss an episode!

When World War II begins, Lee Miller is one of the most sought-after women in the world—a celebrated model, an irresistible muse, and an emerging photographer in her own right. So why does she trade the high life for the front line, risking everything to become the only female photojournalist allowed in combat?

You can see photographs of Lee Miller in her modeling days—and photographs taken by Miller—here in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

You can read more about Miller in this recent New York Times profile based on a huge new retrospective of her work at the Tate in London: "The 9 Lives of Lee Miller."

You can explore more art from the World War II era in "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945," a special exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, through July 19, 2026. 

Tickets are now *sold out* for the next live taping of The Object podcast on May 21, 2026, at 7 p.m. at our home museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art. BUT walk-ups are welcome, no cost, for general admission: simply come a little early, grab a seat and enjoy the show. It's “The Object LIVE! Talk Dürer to Me!” with musical guests Philip Brunelle and members of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, curator conversation with Mia Director Katie Luber, quizzes, and of course storytelling. An irreverent romp through the Renaissance, featuring the art and life of the groundbreaking painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer on his 555th birthday.