This life-sized porcelain image of the Virgin Mary was brought over from Italy in 1884. Danielle Oteri hide caption
Vermeer's 1663 work, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, is back on display at the National Gallery after its first visit 20 years ago. Carola van Wijk/National Gallery of Art hide caption
Visitors look at Ai Weiwei's "Trace" installation — part of the @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz series — last year on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
"I struck upon this kind of crazy idea that I was going to go to New York and stop 10,000 people on the streets and take their portrait, and create kind of a photographic census of the city." Courtesy of St. Martin's Press hide caption
Ceramics artist Ron Nagle says his greatest gift is his sense of humor -- "basically because I'm a melancholy person," he says. William Pruyn/Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery hide caption
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) slips on his Nike sneakers and rides a Mattel hoverboard in front of a Texaco gas station. Courtesy of The Kobal Collection hide caption
Stacks of bowls in the company's signature colors, like "sand" and "light grey whale." Mandalit del Barco/NPR hide caption
The entrance to the main building of Japan's iconic Hotel Okura in Tokyo. An outcry from architectural preservationists couldn't stop the demolition to make way for a high-rise tower. Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The certificate for 2014 Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, with original artwork by Ruth Elisiv Ekeland. Ruth Elisiv Ekeland/Courtesy of and copyright (c) The Nobel Foundation hide caption
Alder branches form a bridge in a Dumfriesshire, Scotland, stream. (Jan. 17, 2014) Andy Goldsworthy/ Abrams hide caption
Dmitri Vrubel's painting of the Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev and East Germany's Erich Honecker kissing — under a Russian phrase that reads, "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love" — is a popular part of the East Side Gallery. Adam Berry/Getty Images hide caption
Everything at the brand new Cultural Center in downtown Buenos Aires is free — from art installations to symphony concerts. "Culture is an investment for this government, not an expense," says Culture Minister Teresa Parodi. Centro Cultural Kirchner hide caption
Shahzia Sikander, pictured here, created the film Parallax (also pictured) to explore the layers of history and change that are remaking parts of the Middle East and South Asia. Courtesy of Shahzia Sikander hide caption
Designer Ralph Lauren poses on the runway during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 17. Mike Coppola/AP hide caption
Frazier's grandmother grew up in Braddock in the 1930s and '40s, when "it was prosperous and a melting pot," Frazier says. She took this photograph of her grandmother in 2002. Courtesy of artist LaToya Ruby Frazier hide caption
The sun sets on Banksy's 'Dismaland' in Weston-super-Mare England. The art exhibit, billed as a "bemusement park," closed permanently on Sunday, Sept. 27. BEN BIRCHALL/PA Photos /Landov hide caption
Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov poses for a portrait at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City in July. The center, a multidisciplinary practice and performance space, opened in 2005. Bryan Derballa for NPR hide caption
Taylor's Vicissitudes, after it began to accumulate coral. Jason deCaires Taylor hide caption
NPR thanks our sponsors