How to Steal a Surrealist Painting Surreally

Art theft is a terrible problem worldwide. Aside from robbing the public of enjoying the great works of the past, art theft often leads to damage to the art and involvement with organized crime, who see great art with established monetary value as a readymade kind of currency. However, the recent theft of Salvador Dalí’s 1949 painting Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio on June 19^th and its subsequent return on June 30^th adds a fittingly surreal twist to the taking of a work by the arch surrealist (shown above). Not to condone art theft in any way and not to make light of breaking the law, but is it possible to see this caper as a work of art itself? Is it permissible to steal a surrealist painting surreally? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "How to Steal a Surrealist Painting Surreally."

Is This the Scariest Painting Ever?

Whenever a holiday rolls around, I always try to match a work of art to it, the way a sommelier tries to match a fine wine to a meal. Halloween led me to a quest for the scariest painting of all time? What sends chills and thrills up your spine just by looking at it on a museum wall? Fright, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I think I’ve come up with a pretty good contender for the scariest, the Halloween-iest painting of them all. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is This the Scariest Painting Ever?"

[Image: Arnold Böcklin. Isle of the Dead, 1880. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. (Image source.)]

Why 21st Century Shakespeare Still Looks Like 19th Century Shakespeare

Our century now lays claim to our own Shakespeare—a 21^st century Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s on Twitter, on Facebook, and even on Second Life, just like any modern producer and consumer of social media. But as much as we want a shiny, new Shakespeare just like us, 21^st century Shakespeare looks a lot like 19^th century Shakespeare. No matter how we want to shake the Romantics, we’re all still their children. Take away the Tweets and the Facebook updates, and our Shakespeare resembles their Shakespeare, especially in how artists saw him and depicted his creations. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why 21^st Century Shakespeare Still Looks Like 19^th Century Shakespeare."

[Image: Robert Thew after Henry Fuseli. Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus and the Ghost. Published 29 September 1796. Stipple engraving on paper, 500 x 635 mm.]