The Object

In the early 1930s, Max Beckmann is the biggest thing in Germany, the übermensch of art with his larger-than-life paintings and ego to match, peering over a champagne glass at the beautiful free spirits in the cabarets. But when Hitler takes over, Beckmann is in his crosshairs, forced to choose between creative freedom and the country he loves. An epic story of war and resilience, the sweep of history and the struggle to realize our destiny.

You can see some of Beckmann’s biggest, most electrifying work in the special exhibition “Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin,” on view at Mia through July 19. 

Also, big news! Free tickets for the next live taping of The Object podcast will be available starting April 21 on the Tickets page at artsmia.org. It’s “The Object LIVE! Talk Dürer to Me!” with musical guests Philip Brunelle and members of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, curator conversation with Mia Director Katie Luber, and of course storytelling. An irreverent romp through the Renaissance, featuring the art and life of the groundbreaking painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer on his 555th birthday. Everything you love about the podcast, live on stage at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on May 21 at 7 p.m.

It is the stuff of legend: Claude Monet discovers Japanese art in the late 1800s, something clicks, and he goes on to become the most famous artist in the world. But one of his greatest influences on the other side of the earth is a mystery, the artist behind the “great wave” and hundreds of other iconic images. The artist who calls himself Hokusai (at least for a time)—and won't be nearly as lucky as Monet.

You can see one of Monet’s paintings of the Japanese footbridge he built at Giverny here, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. You can see hundreds of Hokusai’s prints in the collection, including the “great wave,” here.

BIG NEWS! A new series of The Object LIVE!, our free live tapings of The Object podcast begins May 21 with "Talk Dürer to Me!" With fun quizzes, music, and of course storytelling, all about the quirky German genius Albrecht Dürer—on his 555th birthday—and the splendid weirdness of the Renaissance. Recorded live in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium at our home museum in Minneapolis. Tickets are absolutely free but you do need to have them, available starting April 21 on the Tickets page at Artsmia.org.

It's the Season 8 premiere! Claude Monet, by the 1900s, is the most famous artist in the world, a singular genius (if not exactly genial). But there is another Monet: Blanche Hoschedé Monet. The only artist Claude Monet takes under his wing—and almost completely forgotten, until now.

A story of what it means to be an artist, and what happens when your story is not your own. You can see Hoschedé Monet's 1888 Snow Effect landscape, recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, here. 

BIG NEWS! A new series of The Object LIVE!, our free live tapings of The Object podcast begins May 21 with "Talk Dürer to Me!" With fun quizzes, music, and of course storytelling, all about the quirky German genius Albrecht Dürer—on his 555th birthday—and the splendid weirdness of the Renaissance. Recorded live in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium at our home museum in Minneapolis. Tickets are absolutely FREE, available starting April 21 at Artsmia.org.

Leave us a review wherever you listen and subscribe so you never miss an episode as Season 8 gets rolling.

New season begins March 16! Now, an encore episode that was our most popular story a few seasons ago. About a woman who was once of the most recognizable  in the world, her long copper hair filling painting after painting, even if few people knew her name: Fanny Cornforth. Model, muse, and mistress to the most influential artists of the Victorian era, who she still had to fight for everything she got. Until, in the end, she lost the one thing she could count on for sure: herself.

You can see her in this 1868 painting, "I know a maiden fair to see," in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

Subscribe now so you never miss an episode of the upcoming season, leave us a review, and visit our home museum if you're in the Twin Cities area: the Minneapolis Institute of Art, now showing "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945."

Season 8 of The Object begins March 16! All-new episodes, bonus content, and more about the almost famous, the nearly lost, and more surprising true stories at the intersection of art and history. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode!

Now, enjoy the second in our bonus series of Fireside Stories: The incredible, fast, and forgotten life of painter Bob Thompson. The original Basquiat, seeming to come out of nowhere with sold-out shows of his colorful remixes of Old Masters. Riding with the Beat poets in the race to live all of life all at once. And leaving behind several lifetimes' worth of work—in just a few years.

You can see Thompson's Homage to Nina Simone, a reimagining of Nicolas Poussin's Bacchanal with Lute-Player, from about 1630, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.