Why did Vincent van Gogh paint a skeleton smoking a cigarette? His 1886 painting doesn’t quite seem to fit into his larger output, one teeming with swirling landscapes and emotive portraits. Some art historians have said that “Head of a Skeleton With a Burning Cigarette” was merely van Gogh, still …
Read More »An Artist Signed Over His Career to Investors. Now He Wants It Back.
The “Main Agreement” was supposed to be the final agreement, a contract to end all other contracts between two investors and Bjarne Melgaard, a provocative Norwegian artist who had drawn notice at the 2011 Venice Biennale with an exhibition about a fictional movement of gay terrorists. Melgaard was struggling financially …
Read More »How Norway Became a Powerhouse for All Seasons
As the runners hit the penultimate bend, the racing pulse of the music starts to beat faster. The choice, and the timing, are perfect: Darude’s now semi-ancient trance track “Sandstorm.” But very few of the 15,000 in attendance can hear any of it. Instead, the fans inside the Bislett Stadium …
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