A World Cup tribute: art from around the globe –

It’s on. If you haven’t been watching, in the fake favelas at the Nomad World Pubs in Milwaukee and St. Paul or at home (is soccer best enjoyed in private, so you won’t miss a goal or among others, to pass all the time between goals?), it’s a kind of super-focused Olympics: one sport, many nations. And, at least until the United States starts to take professional soccer more seriously, a little more democratic. (Never mind all the cheating.)

Museums like the MIA often describe themselves as encyclopedic, which has lost some meaning in a time when encyclopedias are most readily spotted at garage sales for a buck a set. It just means the MIA is a comprehensive museum, with art from A to Z, soup to nuts (if you really want to date yourself), Argentina to Zimbabwe.

Along those lines, and in honor of the unusual convocation of countries taking place in Brazil, we rounded up a significant work of art at the MIA from each of participating country (save one, Uruguay, unfortunately unrepresented in the collection). Enjoy, then get back to the TV.