Artist Maurizio Cattelan duct taped a banana to a wall, titled it "Comedian", and sold 5 editions of the artwork for as much as $150,000 each. Why did it capture our attention, curiosity, and memes? What does it mean?

Discover how advertising, machinery and U-boats intersect on the eve of WWI. To learn about other great moments in modern art, take our online course, Modern Art, 1880-1945. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.

An introductory course using visual materials with emphasis on methods and motivations that generate the visual experience, both past and present. Art practices from around the world are examined for form and content. Emphasis will be on Western Art.

Course Outcomes:
1. Articulate verbally and in writing a general understanding of the significance of visual art in a wide variety of culture and media.
2. Create a personal work of art. Articulate verbally and in writing the form and content of the piece, along with information about significant artists and art works relative to the created artwork, and to visual art.
3. Articulate verbally and in writing appropriate art vocabulary, and art evaluation concepts, when viewing visual art.

“This glossary contains over 250 key terms and is illustrated with more than 100 images. A few of the key terms are repeated to give a different context to the term with each use. In such cases, a different illustration may be used, in keeping with the culture and time period under which the key term is listed. This resource can be used digitally, as a series of webpages (on Canvas, for example) or as a PDF of this entire glossary that is made available on certain platforms. As a series of webpages, the book is organized in modules. The PDF, when available, can also be printed into a hard copy of the entire glossary. The structure of this glossary follows art historical periods culturally. When viewing this glossary as a series of webpages, each of the topics listed under Table of Contents (see previous page) is contained on its own page. The length of each page varies a great deal due to the arbitrary “length” of a webpage. All image captions, as well as their attributions and licenses, are listed at the bottom of each page.”

This art history video discussion examines Jackson Pollock's "One: Number 31", 1950, Oil and enamel paint on unprimed canvas, 1950 (MoMA).

Acoma polychrome water jar, c. 1890, from Acoma, clay and pigment, 25.1 x 29.8 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); speaker: Brian Vallo, Director, Indian Arts Research Center School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Take time with Ad Reinhardt's black canvases and discover the rewards of contemplation. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.

Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting, 1963, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches (The Museum of Modern Art) Speakers: Salman Khan & Steven Zucker. Created by Steven Zucker and Sal Khan.

This resource is useful for students who can visit rare books in special collections libraries. Teachers and students of book history, literature, and art history might find this resource useful.

Leonardo da Vinci, Adoration of the Magi, 1481, oil on panel (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-adoration-of-the-magi.html. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Rodney Leon, African Burial Ground National Monument, 2006, New York City, An ARCHES video, speakers Dr. Renée Ater and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Smarthistory.

How a portrait of an African muslim came to hang side-by-side with the founding fathers in one of America's earliest museums. Charles Willson Peale, Portrait of Yarrow Mamout (Muhammad Yaro), 1819, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm (Philadelphia Museum of Art) Speakers: Dr. Carol Eaton Soltis, Project Associate Curator, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

Conservators, scientists, and curators tell the story behind the unprecedented conservation of Tullio Lombardo's Adam. The life-size marble statue of Adam, carved by Tullio Lombardo (Italian, ca. 1455–1532), is among the most important works of art from Renaissance Venice to be found outside that city today. Made in the early 1490s for the tomb of Doge Andrea Vendramin, it is the only signed sculpture from that monumental complex. The serene, idealized figure, inspired by ancient sculpture, is deceptively complex. Carefully manipulating composition and finish, Tullio created God's perfect human being, but also the anxious victim of the serpent's wiles. In 2002, Adam was gravely damaged in an accident. Committed to returning it to public view, the Museum undertook a conservation treatment that has restored the sculpture to its original appearance to the fullest extent possible. The exhibition allows Adam to be viewed in the round and explains this unprecedented twelve-year research and conservation project. It also inaugurates a new permanent gallery for Venetian and northern Italian sculpture. The installation of this gallery was made possible by Assunta Sommella Peluso, Ignazio Peluso, Ada Peluso, and Romano I. Peluso.

In the process of crafting millions of porcelain sunflower seeds, Chinese artist Ai WeiWei creates a work of art as well as a positive social project for the village in rural China he employed to make the seeds. Follow Sunflower Seeds on its remarkable journey from conception to delivery, and hear the artist talk about his unique socio-political approach to making art. Created by Tate.

House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three of their Daughters, limestone, New Kingdom, Amarna period, 18th dynasty, c.1350 BCE (Ägyptisches Museum/Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Alberti, Façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1470. Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris.

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker look at Albrecht Durer's "Self-Portrait, 1500." (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).

The albumen silver print, invented in 1850, was the most popular photographic printing process of the 19th century. To make albumen silver prints, a sheet of paper is coated with albumen (egg white) and salts, then sensitized with a solution of silver nitrate. The paper is exposed in contact with a negative and printed out, which means that the image is created solely by the action of light on the sensitized paper without any chemical development. Because the paper is coated with albumen, the silver image is suspended on the surface of the paper rather than absorbed into the paper fibers. The result is a sharp image with fine detail on a smooth, glossy surface. This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-10-13-0194.

Some of the most vivid pigments in medieval manuscripts were manufactured through alchemy, an experimental practice that predates modern chemistry. Today, chemistry deepens our knowledge about paint colors, their identification, and potential continued transformations.