Friday Links: Magritte, Dalí, Van Gogh, pyramids… and math

Photographer: Robert Howlett | Isambard Kingdom Brunel, builder of the Great Eastern | ca. 1857-1858 | George Eastman House, eastmanhouse.org

Some stories we’ve been reading this week:

• To be honest, nine out of the “Ten Things You Might Not Know about René Magritte’s The Son of Man” weren’t that interesting, but the first one was definitely worth a click.
• And speaking of surrealists, remember when we told you about Salvador Dalí’s cookbook? Well, here’s his cutlery set.
• And he wasn’t a surrealist himself, but a YouTube show about Vincent Van Gogh navigating present-day New York City sure sounds surreal.
• If your uncle tells you that “any idiot with a dumb idea can nab an artist’s grant,” show them this hilarious and righteous essay.

• Uncles aside, we went into the humanities because we were bad at math and science, but it’s becoming less and less of a refuge. For example, this week we discovered that math techniques in image analysis can be used to distinguish copies from originals, restore cracks and fading, and more.
• We hope you already know about JSTOR Daily, an online magazine that combines current news with scholarship. If you don’t, this story about the forgotten pyramids of Sudan is a nice place to start.