The Venus de Milo, a celebrated ancient statue found on the Greek island of Milos and displayed at the Louvre since 1821, is one of the most famous artworks in the world. Yet relatively little is known about the many centuries of artistic output on Milos and its surrounding islands, known as the Cyclades. In bringing to light this veritable treasure trove of antiquities and artifacts, the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens is also spearheading new research into the rich historical insights these objects have to offer.

This is certainly the case of a new exhibition "Kyladitisses: Untold Stories of Women in the Cyclades," currently on view until May 4, which uses art as a lens through which to learn more about the lives of the women who, over many generations, inhabited the sunny Cyclades, an archipelago of hundreds of islands including Mykonos, Thera (Santorini), and Ios. Some 180 statues and figurines dating from prehistory to the middle ages represent women in many guises, from goddesses, religious icons, mothers, entrepreneurs, and sex workers, all bonded by their resilience within a deeply patriarchal society.

The exhibition is the first initiative to emerge from a landmark deal signed last year by the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, a regional office of the Greek ministry of culture, with the aim of promoting Cycladic art at home and internationally.

Sandra Mariopoulou, museum's president and CEO, noted to local press that it is "the first pan-Cycladic show that has ever been set up: a historic exhibition, as it is the first time it collects so many outstanding works of the Cycladic Islands in one place."

When it comes to critically-acclaimed museum shows, a high premium is usually placed on the uniqueness and rarity of the objects on display. Back in the day, however, copies of an ancient masterpiece would often have to do. This was how the marvels of Greek art made their way to workshops across the Roman empire, in due course influencing the Renaissance masters and Western culture at large. Not only would ideas spread far via reproduction, but otherwise site-specific art could be appreciated in new contexts.

A new exhibition at Prague City Gallery's Stone Bell House arrays hundreds upon hundreds of Bruce Weber's photographs. They represent the iconic body of work he's created over a six-decade career, capturing his fashion photographs, magnetic images of celebrities, photojournalistic outings, and sweeping landscapes.

"Surrealism" at the Centre Pompidou, Paris Through January 13, 2025

There's still time to catch the expansive, traveling "Surrealism" show on its Paris leg, where the movement originated. This trailblazing exhibition, which changes drastically as it travels—it began at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, and heads to Madrid, Hamburg, and Philadelphia next—is a celebration of the movement's centennial.

French painter Henri Matisse first came into contact with ukiyo-e woodcut prints in the early 20th century, when various world fairs brought Japanese art to Europe. Struggling to get his own career off the ground (his first solo exhibit at Ambroise Vollard's gallery in 1904 was far from successful), Matisse took a liking to the prints, which offered a whole new way of looking at the world.

Conservators at The Courtauld Institute in London have discovered an image of a mystery woman hidden beneath one of Picasso's most famous Blue Period paintings. The unknown image was discovered when The Courtauld took x-ray and infrared images of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto (1901), revealing the outline of an unidentified woman with a distinctive chignon hairstyle, which was fashionable in Paris at the turn of the century.