Min Chen

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Min Chen

During her two-decade reign, Marie Antoinette didn’t just preside over France, she reshaped the worlds of 18th-century fashion and design in her image. From her sumptuous pastel gowns and towering wigs to her dazzling jewels and gilded furnishings, the queen embraced a personal style of lavish elegance that bled into her quarters at the Château de Versailles, where striking color, lush tapestries, and rococo touches newly defined royal grandeur.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Min Chen

As Citizen Kane (1941) opens, we’re drawn into the grand estate of Charles Foster Kane (played by Orson Welles, who co-wrote and directed the film). The elderly media tycoon is dying. Lying on his deathbed, he clutches a snow globe, which falls from his hand as he breathes his last word: “Rosebud.” That final whisper will serve as our way into Kane’s world, setting in motion a narrative that traces his rise and fall, with the mysterious Rosebud at the center.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Min Chen

A garden once flourished in Pompeii. There, alongside a typical row house, olive trees, roses, and vines blossomed, nourished by hand-carved irrigation channels. The entrance to the site bore the Latin inscription “Cras Credo,” translated to “Credit will be offered tomorrow,” a touch of Pompeiian humor. The Vesuvius eruption in 79 C.E. wiped out the grounds—but preserved hints of its purpose. Now, a new garden is taking root the same spot.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Min Chen

Around 1911, while working at the Optical Institute in Wetzlar, Germany, Oskar Barnack floated a bold idea. Struggling with asthma, the photography enthusiast found it difficult to lug around full-sized camera equipment on his outdoor excursions. What if, he suggested, the company created a lightweight, portable camera, one that used small rolls of film, which he could carry with him on his hikes? Barnack’s proposal was greenlit by his boss Ernst Leitz—and would go on to revolutionize photography.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Min Chen

Do you love BTS? You’re not alone. A new exhibition is bringing together 20 fan artists whose works celebrate the world-conquering K-pop group. It’s been a relatively quiet spell for the BTS fandom. After a decade of dominance on the global airwaves, charts, and stages—it’s the best-selling act in all South Korean history—the boy band went on hiatus in 2022 so its seven members could fulfill their mandated military service.