Going Public
This public sculpture by Rodin commemorating six heroes of the Hundred Years War was - uh - not so heroic looking.
THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS!
This work by Raphael is located just a few hundred feet from Michelangelo's famous Sistine Ceiling ceiling and altar wall frescos.
THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS (Philosophy)
This female contemporary artist was known for telling stories with quilts - she called them, storyquilts!
FAITH RINGGOLD!
In this painting, Jan van Eyck painted text on the wall behind the two main figures that he "was here" - which has led some people to believe he was present to stand as a witness to an important event.
The Arnolfini Portrait
It was at the top of this temple that made to resemble Mount Coatepec (Snakey Mountain) that the Mexica / Aztec emperor, priests and shamans would sacrifice humans to provide blood for their main god, Huitzilopochtli.
TEMPLO MAYOR (MAIN TEMPLE)!
This contemporary artist often writes calligraphic text on the surface of her high contrast black and white photographs.
SHIRIN NESHAT!
Native American Lenape men wore these objects across their bodies, but women made them.
BANDOLIER BAGS!
The mixed media installations of this contemporary artist almost always include Dutch-wax fabrics, which he too once thought were authentically African.
Yinka Shonibare
This Greek goddess was honored with a temple atop the Acropolis in the middle of the city that is named after her.
Athena!
This park housed a two-week-long installation that was over 23 miles long, free and open the public ... and very orange!
CENTRAL PARK, NYC!
30 of the panels from this series are located at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, while the other 30 are located at the Phillips Collection in Georgetown.
The Migration Series (The Migration of the Negro Series)
This two-sided object appears to tell the story of a king that unified Upper and Lower Egypt, bring the Predynastic period to an end.
Palette of Narmer!
On the grave stele of this ancient Athenian woman, the text inscribed attaches her to father, Proxenos.
Hegeso! #RIP
This the collective name for the objects of mixed materials that were violently taken from a royal palace in what is now Nigeria.
BENIN BRONZES!
This Baroque architect's designs were so incredible dynamic and dramatic that he would ONLY use white on both the exterior and interior of his buildings.
Francesco BORROMINI!
Men wear and perform with these masks to honor the fulfilled women, usually from their own family.
PWO MASKS!
Mixed medias like mud, salt crystals, rocks and a water coil were used to make this famous earthwork.
This Hindu god was honored with the construction of both Lakshmana Temple in India and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
VISHNU!
Emily Kame Kngwarreye made this work outside in the middle of the public space of her village Utopia, surrounded by the robust growth of green time.
Earth's Creation!
This Donatello sculpture was originally placed in the center courtyard of the Palazzo Medici in Florence, but people got angry so it was later ... relocated.
DAVID!
The story of three brave brothers from the Ancient Roman Republic was told by this Neoclassical painter in a very large work he hoped would inspire some revolutionary feelings in France.
JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID!
This contemporary artist often included lots and lots of text in his works, even if much it was crossed out.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
This Romantic landscape painter was known for his rapid, some might say violent application of paint. He must have been angry!
J.M.W. Turner
The Greek text in this Early Byzantine manuscript now looks mostly black, but it is actually tarnished silver.
Vienna Genesis!
This New Mexico based Native American man painted the ceramic vessels that were first handmade by his wife.
JULIAN MARTINEZ!
PREYING MANTRA!
This Egyptian pharaoh decided to shift gears and make all Egyptians worship only one sexless sun god, and he made everyone go through him to do it!
AKHENATEN! (AKHENATON)
At this hall in the London, large contemporary installations are free and open to public, and often make very large socio-political statements.
TURBINE HALL!
On this isolated island you cand find large monolithic statues, facing inward, that are thought to represent ancestors.
RAPA NUI (EASTER ISLAND)
The story of how this work of art came to fruition involves three people, a cup and saucer, and a fur bracelet.
Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure)
The text on this ancient basalt object is written in the script of cuneiform, and details nearly 300 laws ... and their consequences!
The Code of Hammurabi (Stele of Hammurabi)
Things got a little hostile (and chaotic!) on this marble funerary object between the Romans and the Barbarians.
The quivering white marble sculpture of this Spanish saint hovered and an angel that smiles at her stands out amidst a theatrically-inspired chapel that is otherwise filled with super colorful stones and marbles.
Saint Teresa (of Avila)!
This man was honored in the 1790s with a life-like and life-sized sculpture in his home state of Virginia's capitol building.
George Washington!
This artwork was originally made out of plywood and vinyl, but was later remade for the campus of Yale University out of the much more durable materials of steel, aluminum and resin.
ARTEMIS!
The public can try to gather at the empty plaza at the foot of this glass-curtained New York City building, but there aren't really many places to sit. Maybe you should just admire the building instead.
SEAGRAM BUILDING!
On a very special spot in Jerusalem where Muslims believed this man took his Night Journey, you will find the Dome of the Rock.
The Prophet Muhammad
This fiery Japanese story of a coup d'état is told, or more specifically UNFURLS between your hands and is read from right to left.
THE NIGHT ATTACK ON SANJO PALACE
This artist created around 5,000 Chinese characters that meant nothing in an attempt to comment on the impact the Chinese Cultural Revolution has had on their language.
XU BING! <3
This Spanish artist documented the horrific acts of war committed by the French against the Spanish in his Disasters of War printmaking series.
FRANCISCO de GOYA!
The use of ink diluted to achieve various opacities on white paper was a technique mastered by this contemporary South Korean artist.
SONG SU NAM
This ancient man made what he thought was the PERFECT man (an athlete, to boot) during the Golden Age of Ancient Athens.
POYKLEITOS!
Yeah, okay, this contemporary bovine work might technically be mixed media, but the primary material used to make it also inspired its title.
PISUPO LUA AFE!
This very aggressive Aztec goddess of the moon was - ughhhh - murdered by her brother Huitzilopochtli.
Coyolxauhqui! (Co-yull-show-key!)