Who Arted is art history and art education for everyone. While most art history podcasts focus on the traditional "fine art" we see in museums around the world, Who ARTed celebrates art in all of its forms and in terms anyone can understand. Each episode tells the story of a different artist and artwork including the traditional big names like Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol along with lesser-known artists working in such diverse media as video game design, dance, the culinary arts, and more. Who Arted is written and produced by an art teacher with the goal of creating a classroom resource that makes art history fun and accessible to everyone. Whether you are cramming for your AP Art History exam, or trying to learn a few facts so you can sound smart at fashionable dinner parties, we’ve got you covered with episodes coming every Monday.
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I have been making Who ARTed for seven years, and I appreciate everyone who has supported the show and learned along with me over that time. To wrap it all up, I put together a collection of seven of my favorite mini episodes. Learn about all sorts of works, including Paul Van Hoeydonck’s 1971 lunar memorial Fallen Astronaut and Alexei Leonov’s pioneering 1965 sketch made during the first spacewalk, to Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic ukiyo-e woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, highlighting the dynamic tension between nature and Mount Fuji alongside the revolutionary adoption of imported Prussian blue. In classical painting, the enduring intrigue of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa demonstrates the optical nuances of Renaissance sfumato, anatomical study, and the cultural mythology amplified by its infamous 1911 theft from the Louvre.
Bridging historical tradition with modern and contemporary experimentation, this overview details how unexpected materials and radical conceptual strategies have expanded the definition of visual art. The progression moves from Herb Williams’ high-concept sculptures constructed from hundreds of thousands of wax crayons, to the meditative precision, sacred geometry, and ritual destruction of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas, embodying the philosophy of impermanence over material attachment. That exploration of presence and absence culminates in Robert Rauschenberg’s radical 1953 conceptual breakthrough, Erased de Kooning Drawing, which transformed meticulous erasure into a profound act of tribute, followed by Andy Warhol’s 1962 Marilyn Diptych, which appropriated religious altarpiece formats and commercial silkscreening to critique mass media, consumerism, and the tragic commodification of celebrity.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
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Author Interview: Doreen Carvajal | The Girl in Blue
Monday, October 19, 2026 • Duration 46:30
My guest this week was Doreen Carvajal, author of The Girl in Blue: Renoir's Portrait of a Dynasty Erased. In our conversation, Carvajal shared her insights into the girl behind the portrait, her family and what happened to them during World War 2.
Find Doreen Carvajal online:
https://www.doreencarvajal.net
Buy the book on Amazon or your favorite bookstore.
In 1880, French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir was hired by a wealthy Parisian family to paint their eight-year-old daughter, Irène Cahen d'Anvers. The resulting portrait, titled La Petite Irène (or The Girl in Blue), depicts a quiet young girl with flowing reddish hair, a pale blue dress, and piercing blue eyes. Renoir created the painting during an important shift in his career, combining his signature soft brushstrokes with sharp, delicate details in Irène’s face. Remarkably, he painted parts of the work using his left hand after breaking his right arm in an accident. Decades later during World War II, the masterpiece was stolen by Nazi art looters and traded among high-ranking German officials before Allied "Monuments Men" recovered it in Bavaria in 1945. Restituted to an elderly Irène and later acquired by the Kunsthaus Zürich, La Petite Irène stands today as both an Impressionist treasure and an enduring symbol of survival and loss.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
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Robert Longo | Men in the Cities
Monday, October 12, 2026 • Duration 43:42
My guest this week is Tim Bogatz from The Art of Education and host of Art Ed Radio. He was kind enough to join me to talk about Robert Longo.
American artist Robert Longo rose to prominence as a defining figure of the late 20th-century art scene, widely recognized for his monumental scale, multidisciplinary projects, and cinematic aesthetic. His breakthrough series, Men in the Cities, created in the late 1970s and early 1980s, features sharply dressed subjects captured in extreme, contorted poses rendered in stark black and white. Working with friends and fellow artists, including Cindy Sherman, as models, Longo photographed figures in dynamic, off-balance movements on a New York rooftop before translating the imagery into towering graphite and charcoal drawings. The resulting compositions present an ambiguous tension between ecstatic dance and sudden physical impact, blending corporate aesthetics with an edgy, post-punk subversion.
Beyond figurative studies, Longo's practice is defined by a mastery of medium, monumental scale, and subtractive drawing techniques. Approaching charcoal much like a sculptor, he applies dense layers of dark pigment and carves light and form back out of the surface using an array of erasers. This process yields dramatic, high-contrast works measuring eight feet or more, spanning subjects from massive ocean waves and wildlife to cathedral interiors and historical iconography. Combined with his work in music video and feature film direction, Longo’s photorealistic drawings interrogate power, modern culture, and the emotional impact of contemporary imagery.
See more of Longo's work at his website: https://www.robertlongo.com/series/meninthecity/
Find Tim Bogatz online:
The Art of Education
The Art of Ed Community
Art Ed Radio
Related episodes of Who ARTed:
Christo and Jeanne-Claude | The Floating Piers
Walter de Maria | The Lightning Field
Felix Gonzales-Torres
Claude Monet
Wassily Kandinski
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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TLDR Aztec Art
Monday, October 5, 2026 • Duration 12:02
Aztec art served as a vital instrument of statecraft, religious ceremony, and cosmic order rather than individualized aesthetic expression. Organized into royal and religious guilds, master artisans known as tolteca worked in dedicated neighborhoods across Tenochtitlan, mastering lapidary arts, stone carving, and metalwork. Elite featherworkers (amanteca) produced radiant mosaic tapestries, headdresses, and ceremonial shields from iridescent quetzal, macaw, and hummingbird plumage, items prized far above gold or silver for their spiritual association with breath, solar rays, and divine vitality. Aztec sculptors carved massive, dense volcanic rocks such as basalt and andesite without iron chisels, relying instead on harder mineral hammerstones, quartzite abrasives, and water to achieve crisp detail. Although centuries of weathering left these stone monuments bare and monochromatic, they were originally coated in lime plaster and brilliantly painted with mineral pigments like ochre, cinnabar, and Maya blue to demarcate cosmological realms. Beyond monumental sculpture, scribe-painters (tlacuiloque) documented historical chronologies, rituals, and tributary records on accordion-folded deerskin and amatl bark paper using an intricate system of pictographs, ideographs, and phonetic rebuses.
Monumental stone sculpture served as both a spiritual anchor and an expression of imperial cosmology, alternating between stylized divine iconography and striking anatomical naturalism. Sculptors observed the natural world with precision, carving lifelike toads, rattlesnakes, grasshoppers, and canines that captured the vital essence and seasonal rhythms of sacred fauna. The pinnacle of this stonework is exemplified by the iconic Aztec Sun Stone, an intricately carved volcanic monolith commemorating the creation of the Fifth Sun, dated to 13 Reed. At its core, the stone features a solar or terrestrial deity, variously interpreted as Tonatiuh, Yohualtonatiuh, or the earth monster Tlaltecuhtli, flanked by the four previous world ages destroyed by jaguars, wind, fiery rain, and floods. Encircling the central deity are bands depicting the twenty day signs of the 260-day ritual calendar (tonalpohualli), cosmological symbols of jade and turquoise denoting the heavens, and two celestial fire serpents (xiuhcoatl) framing the perimeter. Together, these elements transformed raw volcanic stone into a permanent theological treatise mapping the cycles of time, divine sacrifice, and cosmic stability.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
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TLDR Anish Kapoor | Cloud Gate (The Bean)
Monday, September 28, 2026 • Duration 14:45
Sir Anish Kapoor is an internationally acclaimed British-Indian sculptor celebrated for his pioneering investigations into scale, void, and perceptual depth. Emerging in the early 1980s as part of the New British Sculpture movement, Kapoor initially gained renown for forms coated in intense, unbound raw pigments, a technique influenced by traditional Hindu ritual powders, before expanding into colossal public installations using materials such as reflective stainless steel, polished stone, and light-absorbing Vantablack. His decorated career includes major honors such as the 1991 Turner Prize, a 2013 knighthood for services to the visual arts, and the 2017 Genesis Prize, from which he directed the full $1 million award toward humanitarian organizations aiding Syrian and Rohingya refugees.
Among his most iconic monumental installations is Cloud Gate, commonly known as "The Bean," situated in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Inspired by the fluid properties of liquid mercury, the elliptical structure measures 33 feet high, 42 feet wide, and 66 feet long, weighing approximately 110 tons. Engineered in collaboration with Performance Structures, Inc. and Arup, the exterior comprises 168 stainless steel plates welded together and polished to an entirely seamless, mirror-like finish that reflects the Chicago skyline and surrounding park. Featuring a 12-foot concave underbelly known as the omphalos, Cloud Gate eliminates traditional pedestals to create an interactive civic landmark that draws millions of visitors each year.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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TLDR Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Monday, September 21, 2026 • Duration 13:17
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) was an Austrian visual artist, architect, and environmental philosopher renowned for his vibrant, unconventional aesthetic and radical ecological convictions. Rejecting the rigid straight lines and functional geometric grids of modernist architecture, Hundertwasser championed organic forms, irregular contours, spirals, and vivid mineral pigments. His artistic worldview prompted him to adopt names reflecting his ideals including “Regentag” (Rainy Day) and “Dunkelbunt” (Dark-Multicolored) and led him to advocate for architectural concepts such as the "window right," which granted tenants the autonomy to decorate outer walls, and the integration of dry composting toilets to restore natural ecological cycles.
A pioneer of biophilic design, Hundertwasser merged urban development with the natural world through features like undulating forest-floor interiors, soil-covered green rooftops, and “tree tenants” that grew through exterior openings. These principles culminated in landmark works such as the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, a municipal apartment complex created alongside architect Peter Pelikan and completed in 1985. Defined by its asymmetrical color-blocked facade, whimsical ceramic mosaics, gilded onion domes, and over 250 integrated trees and shrubs, the complex serves as an enduring model of low-cost public housing harmonized with living nature.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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Ettore Sottsass | Carlton & Memphis Design
Monday, September 14, 2026 • Duration 14:15
Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and designer who transformed the design landscape of the late 20th century by challenging the rigid functionalism of modernist architecture. Born in Austria and trained in Turin, Sottsass cultivated a philosophy centered on human joy and playful expression, values cemented during his time as a prisoner of war in World War II. After gaining international acclaim for iconic industrial works like the bright red Olivetti Valentine typewriter, he grew disillusioned with corporate minimalism. In December 1980, Sottsass gathered a collective of young international designers in Milan to establish the Memphis Group, a radical movement that debuted in 1981 and defined 1980s postmodern aesthetics through electric neon colors, asymmetric geometry, and whimsical laminates.
A definitive example of this design philosophy is Sottsass’s 1981 Carlton bookcase, a monumental room divider created for the inaugural Memphis Milano exhibition. Constructed from medium-density fiberboard clad in vibrant plastic laminates, the piece playfully subverts conventional luxury furniture by utilizing synthetic materials and slanted shelves that embrace visual chaos over utilitarian storage. Featuring an anthropomorphic, totem-like silhouette set above a signature squiggled "Bacterio" pattern base, the Carlton merges ancient ceremonial forms with contemporary pop culture. Sottsass's boundary-pushing creations proved that the primary function of design extends beyond mere utility, serving instead to inject emotion, humor, and vitality into daily life.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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Author Interview CJ Denton | La Pittura
Monday, September 7, 2026 • Duration 37:33
My guest this week is CJ Denton, author of a new novel called La Pittura. While his work is historical fiction, in preparation for the book, he conducted extensive research into the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most celebrated painters of the Italian Baroque era. We discussed her life and work particularly focusing on Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura), painted during her period in London around 1638–1639. She developed exceptional technical skill from an early age, learning the demanding craft of grinding raw pigments, sizing canvases, and mastering perspective in an era that severely limited professional opportunities for women. While discussions often fixate on her 1612 trial following her assault by Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi’s artistic brilliance and historical significance are far greater than that one ugly chapter. She navigated the practical realities of a working professional artist in 17th-century Florence and Naples, managing contracts, courting powerful noble patrons like the Medici, maintaining correspondence with intellectual luminaries like Galileo Galilei, and eventually operating her own independent studio.
Find CJ Denton and La Pittura online:
Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/0iYzGRsRFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HhUNc9APz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Author page: https://andrewsparke.com/our-authors/c-j-denton/
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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Author Interview: Ryan T. Pozzi | The Mess that Made Them
Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 43:40
Today I have a bonus episode in the feed. I originally planned to release my interview with Ryan T. Pozzi on Monday, but due to technical difficulties, I had to flip things around. Today, his new book, The Mess that Made Them, is hitting stores. The book focuses on the difficult circumstances that shaped a number of different artists. In our conversation, we focused primarily on Suzanne Valadon.
French artist Suzanne Valadon led a life marked by radical reinvention, rising from poverty and unconventional beginnings to become a trailblazing figure in modern art. Born Marie-Clémentine Valadon in the late 19th century, she initially worked as a circus acrobat before an injury ended her performance career. She subsequently transitioned to modeling in the vibrant bohemian center of Montmartre, posing for renowned painters such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Edgar Degas. Observing these artists closely while developing her own visual voice, Valadon taught herself to paint, mastering technical composition and earning serious recognition across Parisian art circles as an independent creative force.
Valadon’s distinct visual style challenged traditional academic norms, most notably in celebrated works like The Blue Room (1923). Rather than adhering to the passive, idealized female nudes favored by the male gaze of the era, she portrayed everyday modern women with psychological depth, agency, and grounded realism. In The Blue Room, a clothed woman lounges casually in striped pajamas with books at her feet and a cigarette in hand, reclaiming the classic reclining figure motif. Through rich color palettes, expressive brushwork, and unflinching character studies, Valadon permanently disrupted classical conventions and cemented a vital, enduring legacy in art history.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
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TLDR Eugène Delacroix | Liberty Leading the People
Monday, August 31, 2026 • Duration 13:07
Eugène Delacroix stands as one of the defining figures of 19th-century French art and the leading pioneer of the Romantic movement. Rejecting the rigid, line-driven academic standards of Neoclassicism championed by contemporaries like Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Delacroix embraced raw emotion, expressive brushwork, and radiant color inspired by Peter Paul Rubens. From his controversial Paris Salon debut with The Barque of Dante (1822) and his role as a model for Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa, to his transformative 1832 journey across Morocco and Algeria and his dramatic lithographic illustrations for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Delacroix consistently pushed the boundaries of visual expression.
His most celebrated masterpiece, Liberty Leading the People (1830), commemorates the July Revolution that toppled King Charles X in favor of Louis-Philippe. Spanning over eight feet high and nearly eleven feet wide, the monumental canvas employs a classical pyramidal composition to organize a turbulent scene of urban revolt. At its center stands Marianne, the allegorical personification of Liberty, wearing a Phrygian cap and leading fighters across diverse social classes over a barricade of fallen bodies. Blending historical reality with powerful allegory, the painting remains an enduring global symbol of revolution, human freedom, and social justice housed in the permanent collection of the Musée du Louvre.
Liberty Leading the People is one of the 250 artworks required for AP Art History. To learn more about other works from the curriculum, check out my AP Art History Cram Session playlist on Spotify.
Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab
Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com
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Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages, a podcast by Kyle Wood - Stats, Episodes and Rankings - My Podcast Data