The new exhibition “Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945,” in its opening week at the MIA, showcases the post-war clothing designers that helped glamorize a rebuilding nation: Gucci and Versace and Valentino and all the other vowels. It can feel, intentionally, like a glittering guest visiting from somewhere more exotic. But Italian style has been strutted in Minnesota  ...

You could don a hockey mask or paint yourself in zombie blood. Or you could class things up a bit. Go as your favorite MIA artwork. With a few clicks and overnight delivery you could give the kids who treat-or-treat at your door something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives—yes, a full-size candy  ...

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about period rooms. In fact, a small group of us at the MIA have been thinking about the period rooms at the museum for some time now: a multi-year initiative to understand how they came about, how people think about them, and how we might engage them going forward.  ...

Last winter, I drove up to Ely, near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, to hang out with Andy Messerschmidt, whose MAEP exhibition, “Delta Delta Delta Force,” will be on view at the MIA from October 17 to  December  28. It was 10 below zero, but a beautifully clear day for a Sunday drive. I  ...

Holofernes, Upon His Very Recent Beheading by Judith of Bethulia Ouch, girl. I mean seriously, ouch. And I don’t just mean ouch in my neck area, where once my big manly head sat, before you severed it with a sword that like honestly how did you get in my tent with a sword? I also  ...

Holofernes, Upon His Very Recent Beheading by Judith of Bethulia Ouch, girl. I mean seriously, ouch. And I don’t just mean ouch in my neck area, where once my big manly head sat, before you severed it with a sword that like honestly how did you get in my tent with a sword? I also  ...

Recently, Roberta Bartoli wrote about the many loves of the iconic bohemian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, including the poet Anna Akhmatova, who was not his to love. The 20-year-old Russian was on her honeymoon, first of all, when they met in Paris. He was on drugs. She was melancholic. He was all over the  ...

You’re tired of bosses. You’re tired of agendas. If one more person populates your Google calendar with a meeting you didn’t ask for, you’re going to…retire. Why not, assuming your financial house is in order. Chris Farrell, an economics correspondent and personal finance guru for Marketplace Money, has an unexpected answer: “It’s so exciting to  ...

You’re tired of bosses. You’re tired of agendas. If one more person populates your Google calendar with a meeting you didn’t ask for, you’re going to…retire. Why not, assuming your financial house is in order. Chris Farrell, an economics correspondent and personal finance guru for Marketplace Money, has an unexpected answer: “It’s so exciting to  ...

Modigliani’s first name was Amedeo, literally the “one who loves God.” Certainly he loved women—a lot. A sulky, handsome Italian, he had large black eyes, shiny black curls, and a big soft mouth. He had charming manners, too, and being Italian he was stylishly dressed (often in corduroy). Amedeo loved poetry. He knew thousands of  ...