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Verso: An Art History Podcast

by Emma Laramie
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Latest episodes

  • King Tut and the Making of a Modern Obsession

    October 6, 2026 · 43 min

    How did a relatively unknown pharaoh become one of the most recognizable figures in the world—and help change what modernity looked like? When Howard Carter’s team discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the West was already fascinated by…

  • The Afterlife of Albert Barnes

    September 21, 2026 · 45 min

    Albert Barnes spent decades building an institution that was never supposed to become an ordinary museum. After his death, the collection stayed together—but the Foundation around it changed dramatically. This episode follows the battles…

  • Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, and Who Really Invented Abstract Art

    September 7, 2026 · 43 min

    In 1914, Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky showed work in the same building in Malmö. He had five paintings in the grand galleries and a reviewer comparing them to bacteria. She had one conventional landscape in a women's section near…

  • John Singer Sargent, Madame X, and The Strap That Scandalized Paris

    August 24, 2026 · 47 min

    In 1884, John Singer Sargent unveiled a portrait at the Paris Salon that he was certain would make him the most celebrated painter in France. Instead, a single fallen shoulder strap turned into the scandal of the season, and the room…

  • The Mystery of the Lost Amber Room

    August 10, 2026 · 40 min

    The Amber Room was an entire chamber made of carved amber, backed in gold, and once called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Prussia built it, gave it to Russia, and the Nazis looted it in 1941. In 1945 it vanished in the ruins of Königsberg…

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  • The Art Thief and His Attic Full of Masterpieces

    July 27, 2026 · 58 min

    Stéphane Breitwieser stole more than 200 works of art from the museums of Europe, hid them in his mother's attic, and swore he was never a thief. No masks, no weapons, no ransom. Just a young couple in nice clothes, walking out in broad…

  • The Salon des Refusés: How Napoleon III Accidentally Opened the Door to Modern Art

    July 13, 2026 · 51 min

    In 1863, the Paris Salon rejected thousands of paintings, including Édouard Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe, and a nervous Napoleon III made a snap political decision: exhibit the rejects and let the public decide. The Salon des Refusés…

  • The Painter and the Guillotine

    June 30, 2026 · 23 min

    Jacques-Louis David painted Antoine and Marie Anne Lavoisier in 1788, in one of the most famous portraits of the 18th century. Six years later, Lavoisier was guillotined during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, and David, now a…

  • When Bob Dylan Traded an Andy Warhol Painting for a Couch

    June 15, 2026 · 20 min

    In 1966, Bob Dylan left Andy Warhol's Factory with a silver Elvis painting tied to the roof of his car, then traded it for a couch. This episode follows that Double Elvis through the Factory, the supposed Dylan–Warhol rivalry, Edie…

  • Whistler v. Ruskin: The Trial Over a Pot of Paint

    June 1, 2026 · 26 min

    In 1877, the most powerful art critic in Britain published a review calling the painter James McNeill Whistler a fraud. Whistler sued him for libel. What followed was a two-day trial in which paintings were held upside down, a jury of…

  • Robert Mapplethorpe and the Corcoran: The Imperfect Moment

    May 18, 2026 · 32 min

    In 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art canceled a Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibition to protect the NEA from a congressional culture war. The decision backfired spectacularly, triggering mass resignations, donor defections, and a…

  • The Disappearance of Agnes Martin

    May 4, 2026 · 26 min

    In the summer of 1967, Agnes Martin walked into a New York gallery, handed over her brushes, her canvases, and her stretchers, and asked the dealer to give them away to young artists. Then she got in a truck and left. She would not make…

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About the show

Discover the hidden side of art history with Verso. Every other week, we peel back the layers of famous and forgotten masterpieces to reveal the stories that shaped them—art heists, secret paintings, scandals, and more. Whether it’s uncovering the drama behind the canvas or exploring the unexpected connections between art and culture, Verso will change how you see the art, and the world, around you. Want to support the show? Buy me a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/versopod Email me: hello@versopod.com