An artist’s skillful application of paint will make an artwork good, but a good story makes that artwork great. In 2010, a painting went on auction at Sotheby’s and sold for $1.5 million and I would argue that price is not because of the image, or the artist, but rather the story.

Harry Hahn was an American pilot fighting in World War 1. He was fortunate to not only survive the brutal war, but also while serving overseas, he met the love of his life. He married a French woman named Andree Lardoux. Her aunt, the Comtesse Louise de Montaut decided to give the young couple one of the old paintings in her collection as a wedding present. This gift seemed particularly special as a French connoisseur by the name of George Sortais had examined the painting in 1916 and he had declared it to be the work of none other than Leonardo da Vinci.

Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is recognized globally as a holiday spectacle, but it also stands as one of the world's largest exhibitions of public art and engineering. Originating in 1924 as a celebration for the store’s immigrant employees, the event evolved under the artistic direction of puppeteer Tony Sarg. Sarg transformed the parade by replacing live zoo animals with "upside-down marionettes"—sculptures made of rubberized silk that utilized the physics of helium to revolutionize aerial performance. This tradition continues today through the Macy's Parade Studio, where artists blend Old World modeling techniques with 3D computer-aided design to create massive kinetic sculptures capable of navigating the logistical bottleneck of the Lincoln Tunnel.

Beyond the floating pop culture icons, the parade features high art installations through the Blue Sky Gallery, an initiative commissioning works from contemporary masters like Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Yayoi Kusama. The history of these floating giants includes risky experiments, such as the brief era of releasing balloons for a monetary reward, and the development of hybrid vehicles known as "Falloons" and "Balloonicles." From the prototype Felix the Cat to modern masterpieces, the combination of buoyancy and puppetry turns the streets of New York into a moving gallery.

Related episodes:

Jeff Koons

Takashi Murakami

Yayoi Kusama

KAWS

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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In the racially segregated 1950s, a group of twenty-six African American artists from Fort Pierce, Florida, defied the economic limitations of the Jim Crow South by forging a unique path in the art world. Known today as the Florida Highwaymen, these entrepreneurs—including founding figures Alfred Hair and Harold Newton, and the sole female member Mary Ann Carroll—bypassed exclusionary white-only galleries to sell their work directly to the public. Painting vibrant, idealized Florida landscapes on inexpensive Upson board with crown molding frames, they traveled the state's roadways selling their art from the trunks of their cars to banks, motels, and individuals.

Their unique "fast painting" technique, often utilizing palette knives and bold colors, allowed them to produce thousands of works featuring iconic Royal Poinciana trees, dramatic "fire skies," and serene backcountries. While originally sold for roughly $25 to $35, these paintings have since gained significant historical acclaim, leading to the group's induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004.

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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My guest this week is Peter Elliott, author of the new book, Looted! The Nazi Plunder of Jewish Families in France. Tens of thousands of artworks were taken around the time of World War 2. This new book focuses on the experiences of the families who lost their collections. In the interview, Peter shared his tremendous insights into not only the problems of the theft, but also the struggles with restitution in the decades following the war.

Buy Looted! the Nazi Plunder of Jewish Families in France on Amazon

Related episodes:

The Unbelievable Story of Han van Meegeren

Wolfgang Beltrachi

The Art Spy

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco, was a singular figure in art history who bridged the gap between Byzantine tradition and Western modernism. Born in Crete in 1541, he trained as an icon painter before moving to Venice and Rome, where he absorbed the vibrant colors of the High Renaissance. However, his bold personality and vocal criticism of local heroes like Michelangelo made it difficult for him to thrive in Italy. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he spent the rest of his life creating his most famous works for the Church and private intellectuals.

El Greco is best remembered as a leading Mannerist. His style rejected strict realism in favor of emotional intensity, featuring elongated figures twisted in unnatural poses and bathed in eerie, acid-green or blue light. While a popular scientific theory in the early 20th century suggested these distortions were caused by astigmatism, historians have proven they were a deliberate stylistic choice intended to emphasize spiritual mysticism. He was also known for his litigious nature, frequently suing clients to ensure painting was respected as a high intellectual pursuit rather than a common craft.

One of his crowning achievements is The Burial of the Count Orgaz (1586). This massive painting, located in the Church of Santo Tomé in Toledo, visually synthesizes his two main influences. The lower half depicts a miraculous funeral with striking realism, including portraits of local contemporaries, while the upper half represents the heavens with swirling, abstract forms.

Although El Greco fell into obscurity for nearly three centuries after his death in 1614, he was rediscovered by Romantic and Expressionist artists in the 19th century. His unique approach to form and space became a major influence on modern masters, specifically Pablo Picasso, who used El Greco’s distortion as a blueprint for the development of Cubism.

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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Explore a global journey through prehistoric art, from the earliest figurative works in Africa to foundational pieces in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. This overview, drawing from the AP Art History Global Prehistory curriculum, examines the complex belief systems, ritual practices, and artistic skills of early humanity through ten key artworks.

Apollo 11 Stones (Namibia, c. 25,500–25,300 BCE)

Great Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux, France, c. 15,000 BCE)

Camelid Sacrum in the shape of a canine (Tequixquiac, Mexico, c. 14,000–7,000 BCE)

Running Horned Woman (Algeria, c. 6,000–4,000 BCE)

Beaker with Ibex Motifs (Susa, Iran, c. 4,200 BCE)

Anthropomorphic Stele (Arabian Peninsula, c. 4,000 BCE)

Jade Cong (Liangzhu, China, c. 3,300–2,200 BCE)

Lapita Terracotta Fragment (Solomon Islands, c. 1,000 BCE)

The Ambum Stone (Papua New Guinea, c. 1,500 BCE)

Tlatilco Female Figurine (Central Mexico, c. 1,200 BCE)

Related Episodes: Chris Boylan | The Laiagam Stone

Lascaux Cave Art

Apollo 11 Stones

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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Vincent van Gogh saw little commercial success during his lifetime, but he loved art and he worked to forge relationships with other artists he could learn from. The Starry Night came about late in his short career after Vincent van Gogh was hospitalized. He painted the view from his window, but rather than painting things exactly as he saw them, he painted a sort of composite landscape of views from different nights and even different locations. He moved the cypress tree to the foreground and added a little town nestled in the mountains despite the town not being visible from his window. This marked a major shift in painting away from observation of the external world to artists creating work as a show of their internal thoughts and feelings.

Related episodes:

⁠Vincent van Gogh (part 1) | The Potatoe Eaters⁠

⁠Vincent van Gogh (part 2) | Starry Night⁠

⁠Vincent van Gogh | Sunflowers⁠

⁠Loving Vincent - a Film Made of Paintings⁠

⁠Did Vincent van Gogh Really Only Sell One Painting?⁠

⁠Art Smart: Impressionism & Post Impressionism

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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The Buddhist monks of Tibet who are known for their tradition of sand mandalas destroy the work after completing it. The word mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning “circle” but a mandala is not your average two-dimensional shape consisting of an outer boundary called the circumference made up of points all equidistant from a fixed center point. A mandala representation of the universe. While many people talk about Mandalas in reference to radial symmetry, mandala designs have spiritual significance beyond mere repetition. The act of creating a sand mandala is meditative. It requires monks to focus, to be calm, still and deliberate in their actions. And then, after completing the construction, they move on to a ritual deconstructing the piece. Even the deconstruction is a part of the artistic process with spiritual significance. Destroying the sand art is a reminder of the transitory nature of the universe.

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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Hans Holbein the Younger painted The Ambassadors in 1533. It is a massive, life sized double portrait filled with symbolism that gives us insights into the political and religious upheaval of the day. Still today, it is probably best known for the anamorphic skull cutting across the floor in the composition. In the Ambassadors, Holbein presents the symbol of mortality as a specter that looms ever present though sometimes difficult to make sense of. It can feel like an odd intrusion disrupting a picture carefully and beautifully constructed but if we shift our view a little we can see that nothing lasts forever. Life and the world are constantly changing but there can be a beauty in that too if we can bring ourselves to look at it from the right perspective. 

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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My guest for this episode is Karli Wurzelbacher, curator for The Heckscher Museum of Art. She shared her insights into Emma Stebbins, a great neoclassical sculptor from the 19th century. Around the age of 40, Stebbins left America for Europe, where she studied the classic works found around Italy and rose to prominence as a sculptor. Her work was highly prized during her lifetime, but sadly, after she passed away, her work and neoclassical art more broadly fell out of favor. She was long overlooked by history despite high-profile work, including the Bethesda Fountain in New York's Central Park.

The Hecksher Museum of Art is hosting the exhibition, Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History. The show is open now through March 26, 2026. For more information, head over to the Heckscher Musuem of Art's website.

If you cannot make it out to see the exhibition in person, you can purchase the book https://www.heckscher.org/stebbinscatalog/

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]

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