In 2017, at Christie’s Auction House in New York, a mysterious #Art buyer bid a record-breaking $450 million dollars for the #SalvatorMundi; a painting by the legendary Leonardo da Vinci.



News of the staggering purchase...

Empathy is a term we hear a lot, but what does it mean and how does it work? Looking back through art history, we find many moments when art has allowed us to share in the feelings of others, from Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to...

The Art Assignment furthers their exploration of New Orleans to visit artist Bob Snead. He's the Executive Director of Press Street, an organization that promotes art and literature in the community through events, publications and arts...

In which Jace Clayton, aka DJ /Rupture, challenges you to take a walk from where you live and find the quietest place. Once you're there, take it in for a moment and then make a short video or take some photos there.

This week we meet with Tschabalala Self, whose work explores ideas surrounding the black female body; and her assignment asks you to consider your own body as a symbol too.

This week we meet D.C. based artist Molly Springfield. Molly's graphite drawings transform texts into images, and her assignment for you asks you to consider how repeating a process can turn a copy into an original.

Dubious of performance art? Break into a cold sweat when you realize it’s about to begin? There’s a reason. Here we present you with a brief history of performance art and attempt to sway you to its potential charms.

In this video I break down Arthur Danto's belief that Art ended in the 1960's when he saw Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes. He approaches the theory of art through classical philosophy and uses frameworks established by Plato and Hegel, among...

Artists have abandoned artworks for many reasons throughout history. Guest host John Green shares some of his favorite unfinished artworks and explains why they resonate with him so deeply. Featuring work by Michelangelo, Leonardo da...

The Art Assignment travels to New Orleans to meet with Tameka Norris, who makes art in a variety of media and often uses her body in her work. She challenges YOU to become someone else. Sarah then highlights Adrian Piper, who created an...

Ai Weiwei has been called an iconoclast, a radical, a voice for the voiceless, and was once named the most powerful artist in the world. Who is Ai Weiwei? And why is he considered one of the most renowned artists of our time?

When Banksy shredded his artwork the moment after it sold at auction, he left many questions unanswered. What are we to make of the stunt?

PBS Digital Studio's The Art Assignment asks what the title "curator" really means, both traditionally and as it is used today. Can you be a curator of vintage sneakers? Let's talk about it in the comments.

Do you question your ability to talk about art in a coherent way? Here are tips for how to sound like you understand art, even if you've never taken a class or set foot in a museum.

The Guerrilla Girls are asking, nay demanding, that we complain! But we must do so in ways unique and memorable. We met up with them in London at Tate Modern's new Tate Exchange space, where the Guerrilla Girls were in residence and...

This week we speak to collaborating artists Mariam Ghani and Erin Ellen Kelly at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and learn about their approach to learning about and working with landscapes.

You don't need to be creative or inspired to make art, but you may need the advice of artists, and perhaps a prompt!

What is video art? How is it any different from all the other moving pictures that are apparently not-art? Let's explore its history and present.

You’ve heard of Jackson Pollock and know of his infamous “drip paintings,” but what is it that you’re supposed to do when you look at his work today? Why did it cause shockwaves in 1947, and what does it mean now? We explore the life,...

For much of human history, people made art by trying to represent the world as it appeared around them. Until about 100 years ago, when a bunch of artists stopped trying to do that. It was shocking then and it still upsets and confounds...

EARTHWORKS. LAND ART. EARTH ART. Whatever you call it, we look at what it means to make art out in nature and in the world from the 1960s to today.

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?

Was your Art History class an endless succession of names and dates and movements? Art History doesn't have to be that way! We discuss new (and much more compelling) approaches the study of art.

In which we visit artist Kate Gilmore in her Brooklyn studio and receive the assignment to Walk on It.