Mark Rothko paintings sell for $310 million. The collection was owned by a hedge-fund financier under investigation for ties to Bernie Madoff. Proceeds will help recoup investor losses in this largest-ever Ponzi scheme.

“Less is more,” said Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Buckminster Fuller was doing more with less and Dieter Rams said he was using less but better. Today’s tough economic times have us all trying to do more with less but can we do it to the artistic level these leaders of the Minimalist movement did?

Catherine the Great made St. Petersburg, Russia, home to two of the world’s most fascinating museums. The Mining Museum exhibits truly escalate rock collecting to stellar heights and the Hermitage Museum contains all the treasures amassed during Catherine’s reign plus those added in recent years.

One theme - artistic passion - and one work of art. Follow it from the Italian Renaissance to Hollywood, in sculpture, in print, and on film to discover how artistic passion is truly universal, knowing no bounds of time, place, or form.

Was Mona Lisa a real person? What is she smiling about? How well did she know Leonardo da Vinci? Why did da Vinci himself call the painting La Gioconda, the merry or laughing one? Click here to learn all about the life and loves of the lady behind the smile - da Vinci's Mona Lisa.