The Object

The Object LIVE! Manet Touché!

This first-ever live show of The Object podcast (recorded at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on January 23, 2025) features music and storytelling celebrating French painter Édouard Manet and his Impressionist friends and frenemies (yes you, Monet). Watch for more live shows coming soon!
You can see one of Manet's portraits, as discussed on the show, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: The Smoker. 

Fly Me to the Sun: A Bonus New Year Episode

Most of us know the Icarus myth, of the young man who soars too close to the sun—or at least we think we do. But there's more to the story. And at various times in history, the takeaway has changed. As a new year begins, it's worth revisiting the classic tale: how high, or how low, do you want to go?
You can see several takes on the Icarus story in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/icarus
And one of the more famous, curious depictions here: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/draper-the-lament-for-icarus-n01679

Cold Comfort: The Ghosts of Winters Past

For our final episode of Season 6, it’s an ode to winter. A winter of frozen London rivers and snowy Japanese villages—the kind we rarely have anymore if we ever really did. A winter of art and literature, of pure and plentiful snow—a “wintry mix” we can all appreciate.
A standout winter painting (and recent addition to Mia’s collection) is this Winter Landscape by the Finnish painter David Johannes Niemelä, from 1919: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/145286/winter-landscape-david-johannes-niemelae
If you need a refresher on the Little Ice Age or its art, almost surreal in both its recency and its sights, here’s the quick and icy: https://fiveminutehistory.com/20-amazing-winter-paintings-from-the-little-ice-age/

Yes, We Can-Can: How the Moulin Rouge Made Us Modern

When the Moulin Rouge opens in Paris, in 1889—a faux windmill spinning over the entrance, a two-story elephant opening to reveal an orchestra inside—the world is changing quickly. The first film comes out that same day. Electric lights are enlivening the night. The old Victorian morals are being challenged, perhaps nowhere moreso than at this new bohemian cabaret where rich and poor are coming together around the high-kicking can-can and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is the absinthe-drinking artist-in-residence—a flash of freedom and romance that will resonate in the popular imagination long after the moment dissolves in war, crackdowns, and heartbreak.
You can see one of Toulouse-Lautrec's best-known paintings, "At the Moulin Rouge," now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently on view at Mia: https://new.artsmia.org/exhibition/at-the-moulin-rouge

Bonus episode: Talking Wanda Gág with Lizzi Ginsberg

Lizzi Ginsberg is the Chicago-based writer and researcher who guest-hosted our recent episode on Wanda Gág, the Minnesota-raised artist who went on to fame and some fortune in New York writing and illustrating quirky, beloved books like "Millions of Cats." Here, Ginsberg shares what drew her to Gág and the charming, sometimes tragic story of a woman deliberately both behind and ahead of her time.
You can see some of Gág’s work in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Wanda%20Gag

A Woman Called Wanda

Wanda Gág may be the talented, bob-sporting, fiercely independent, 1920s celebrity cat mom you didn't know you needed right now. Guest host Lizzi Ginsberg looks back at the author and illustrator of “Millions of Cats,” her surprising life and recent revival.
You can see her charmingly inventive prints in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/wanda%20gag
You can read about her current show at the Whitney Museum of American Art here: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/wanda-gags-world

Finding Buddha: The Collector at the Top of the World

In 1959, a couple of young women from New York find themselves in the Himalayas—an unlikely story of adventure, royal romance, and spiritual awakening that would eventually result in one of the greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist art in the West. This episode, an experiment in sound and storytelling, explores the incredible convergence of myth and faith, vanished kingdoms and an American princess, and the ancient urge to improve the human experience.
You can see the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, assembled by Alice Kandell and newly installed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, here: https://new.artsmia.org/exhibition/tibetan-buddhist-shrine-room-the-alice-s-kandell-collection
Check out Kandell's photographs of the lost Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim, and her friend Hope Cooke, who became its last queen, in the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.30180/

Dog Days: What Our Pets Say About Us

Art and dogs are like our shadows across time: whatever we're up to, whatever values we hold, eventually it all shows up in our art and our dogs. So what can we learn from looking at art about dogs—about our pets and ourselves?
You can see "Your Dog," the giant sculpture mentioned in this episode, in the current exhibition "Domestic Idols" at Mia, and right here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/102644/your-dog-yoshitomo-nara
You can see an example of a Colima dog, one of the wonderfully charismatic clay sculptures of animals made in Mexico nearly 2,000 years ago, here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/5992/dog-colima

Endless Summer: Can You Really Leave it All Behind?

Santiago Rusiñol is a newly married heir to a Barcelona textile fortune when he decides to become an artist in Paris instead, in the 1880s, influencing Picasso and inventing a new vocabulary for modern art. But when he comes across an idyllic seaside village, back in Spain, his quest for meaning becomes a question: what are we running from? Can we be satisfied with what already exists?
You can see one of Rusiñol's stunning patio pictures, recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, now through the end of the month in the museum's lobby.

For Queen and Country: The Woman who Won Paris

The daughter of a struggling artist, Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun wins the hearts of the French aristocracy—including Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI—with her sensitive portraits. But it's their heads she should be worried about, and when the Revolution hits she has to make a difficult choice. A remarkable story of freedom, and the lengths we'll go to keep it.
You can see her work in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2570/portrait-of-countess-maria-theresia-bucquoi-elisabeth-louise-vigee-le-brun