Watch as artist Pat Vale draws the New York City skyline by hand for his art piece "Colossus." The entire process took Pat four weeks, and involved a lot of photos and rough sketches before the final artwork was completed.

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A giant metal sculpture surrounded by boulders and dirt piles is featured next to the Palace of Versailles in France.

The installation by Anish Kapoor is called "Dirty Corner" and has caused a stir in France. It is to meant to represent Marie Antoinette’s vagina, but the artist says people can intrepret it any way they like. 

While visitors are engaging with the art piece, the mayor of Versailles isn't as pleased with the suggestive installation.

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The Musée du Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world — and it also might just be the most Instagrammed. 

More than nine million people visited the Louvre in 2014, according to an annual study conducted by The Art Newspaper. That's nine million opportunities for Valencia-filtered, perfectly square Instagram pictures of some of the world's finest art.

But some believe the use of cell phone cameras inside museums has gotten out of control. Many museums have started banning cameras and selfie sticks, in an attempt to create a more enjoyable experience for museum-goers hoping to enjoy the artwork without having to peer over dozens of amateur photographers. 

In 2005, the Louvre banned all photography, but the museum's policy has evolved since then. Today, the museum instructs visitors to "respect the collections" and allows non-flash photography inside its permanent exhibits.

Thanks to all the photos, it's easy to digitally get inside the Louvre without travelling to France. Searching Instagram for hashtags like #louvre, #louvremusuem, or even #louvreselfie will bring up thousands of these pictures featuring works by da Vinci, Bernini, and Michelangelo. 

SEE ALSO: Two of the women whose Instagram photos were hijacked by Richard Prince admit they didn't even shoot the originals

Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," is undoubtedly the most famous piece in the Louvre and people take photos with it all day.

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Here's a look at the "Venus de Milo." Sculpted by Alexandros of Antioch, the statue stands over six feet tall. Note the selfie stick in the background.

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This is an Instagram picture of the "Winged Victory at Samothrace." Created in the second century BC, it's popular on Instagram in the 21st century.

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As much as they may try, some people just don't "get" art. Understanding pieces by even the most famous masters of the genre elude them. Now computer scientists from Rutgers University are taking the guesswork out of understanding art by using an algorithm to determine the most creative paintings, according to a study recently published in the arxiv.

The study authors define creativity as "the originality of the product and its influential value." But creative art only exists in the context of other pieces of art, so the researchers needed to compare paintings over time based on their visual elements, such as the naturalness of their shapes, the scenes they depict, the vividness of their color, and the intricacy of the patterns in them.

The researchers used thousands of these measures on two datasets each containing 62,000 paintings. Such large datasets enabled the algorithm to draw connections between the paintings based on their artistic features as well as their time period.

The paintings at the bottom of this chart are less creative (read: more mediocre) while those further up are more creative. Among the most creative for their time: Roy Lichtenstein's "Yellow Still Life," Edvard Munch's "The Scream," and Monet's "Haystacks." Classics by Ingres and Rodin didn't do so well. The authors probably chose to pick out those pieces in particular because they are well known and can provide art lovers with good context for understanding the algorithm's results.

Part of the problem with this type of work, the researchers admit, is that it's impossible to confirm or deny the results—they just are what they are. Though it would be interesting to see if art historians or critics dispute any of the algorithm's creative hierarchy. The researchers say that the algorithm could be tweaked to address other forms of art, like literature or music, in the near future.

This article originally appeared on Popular Science

This article was written by Alexandra Ossola from Popular Science and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

SEE ALSO: Help science by looking at pictures of animals on the internet

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Into first editions and have half a million to spare?

You are in luck then: a section of a 15th century edition of the Gutenberg Bible will be auctioned off on June 19 at Sotheby's New York, with a presale estimate between $500,000 and $700,000.

The eight-leaf section, taken from a bible printed in 1455, comprises the entire Book of Esther, preceded by the end of the Book of Judith and the prologue of Jerome to Esther, and followed by the prologue of Jerome to Job (see Lost Gospel Attributed to Jesus's Mother Discovered at Harvard).

The Gutenberg Bible was the first major Western book to be printed using movable type. Printed in Latin, 180 copies were originally produced, of which an estimated 49 still exist.

Although movable type made it possible to reproduce texts relatively quickly and exactly, each Gutenberg Bible has variations, since illuminations and rubrications were made by hand (see Introduction to Medieval Iconography).

In 1920, Hungarian bookseller Gabriel Wells bought an incomplete Gutenberg Bible, and dismantled it in order to sell the fragments in good condition—which he called “Noble Fragments"—for more expensive prices than the ones with damage or missing illustrations (see Eight Pages Stolen From Famous Bible Now Showing At The Met).

Banker Mortimer L. Schiff bought the Book of Esther from Wells in 1921, and in 1922 donated it to the Jewish Theological Seminary, who is now deaccessioning it amid "fiscal woes," according to Forward.

SEE ALSO: The 9 best short summer reads

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Alexa Meade's work may look like something you would see hanging on the wall in an art gallery, but Meade isn't like any other artist. 

The artist's work is different in that she literally paints human beings, turning them into living, breathing portraits. Alexa creates the illusion of a world where 2D and 3D have become one.

Meade writes on her website that before she started creating these unique pieces of art, she had never attended a painting class. But she says she draws on inspiration from sculpture classes she took in college. 

We first saw Meade's mind-bending work on Made In Shoreditch. 

You can like Meade's Facebook page where she posts information about her work and exhibition dates. 

This is one of Alexa's exhibitions entitled Natura Morta. The average gallery-goer would be forgiven for thinking this is a traditional canvas painting.

Or this...

But take a step back and you'll see that Alexa has literally painted a person and transformed them into a living piece of art.

Europe's hottest neighborhoods are home to cutting-edge art, hip restaurants, and eclectic bars.

Some of these neighborhoods were once areas of political turmoil that have been transformed into creative hubs. Others have stood as artistic gems for years. 

From Kreuzberg, where Berlin's punk rock movement was born, to Amsterdam-Noord, which is home to the continent's biggest vintage market, here are 12 of the coolest neighborhoods in Europe. 

AMSTERDAM-NOORD, AMSTERDAM: Across Amsterdam-Noord, neglected warehouses and buildings from its industrial past have been transformed into trendy restaurants, festival locations, hubs for artists and designers, and locations for Europe's biggest flea market, the monthly IJ-Hallen.

Click here to see what you can find at IJ-Hallen.

SAVAMALA, BELGRADE, SERBIA: The Savamala district continues to grow as one of Serbia's cultural centers. It's home to the Mikser House, an art and performance space which hosts programs like its four-day Mikser Festival which features DJs, punk-rock, alternative, and rock musicians, as well as art installations.

Learn more about the Mikser Festival.

KREUZBERG, BERLIN, GERMANY: The Kreuzberg district was the historic home of the Berlin punk rock movement. Today it continues to attract music lovers to legendary locations like the SO36 music club, a favorite stop for Iggy Pop and David Bowie back in the day.

Explore SO36.

As opening day sales at Art Basel soar, the art market bubble is getting fatter.  

This year's fair boasts $3.4 billion worth of art for sale in the Swiss city of Basel. 

Artnet reports that multimillion dollar works sold like gangbusters in the fair's first few hours. "I haven't had such a good day one at Basel in 10 years," New York dealer David Nolan told the website. 

Here's a look at the galleries and artists who are raking in millions, as well as some really cool art you need to see. 

Works by British artist Martin Creed are a hot item at Basel. A four-minute film he created in 2013 sold quickly for $65,000.

"Work No. 2068" by Martin Creed.

According to Artnet, a $5.5 million Christopher Wool piece was sold by New York's Van de Weghe Gallery in the first half hour of Basel's opening day.

"Untitled (SC5)" by Christopher Wool.

Artist Julius von Bismarck is doing performance art on this rotating platform. The work is called “Egocentric System.”

In most museums, the look-don't-touch rule is inflexible - they're none too keen on throwing punches at a Monet.

But for those who just can't resist getting into the action, there are some pieces a tad more accessible.

From clouds of light to lasers, slides to giant bubbles, these installations make a day at the museum the most fun - and in some cases, exhausting - thing you can do. 

A crowd enjoys the light installation "CLOUD" in Marina Bay, Singapore. Canadian artists Wayne Garrett and Caitlind Brown used 6,000 light bulbs for the piece.

The "Mirror Box" creates a never-ending myriad of reflections for the Museum Center in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Many pieces here are interactive, brought in by a young group of art-minded engineers and scientists.

It's pretty tempting to read within Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo's "aMAZEme", a labyrinthine maze constructed of some 250,000 used and new books.

Last weekend a new class of Stanford graduates received their diplomas, and it’s a safe bet that some who just earned undergraduate degrees will soon be at the helm of startups with “unicorn” valuations of over $1 billion.

Looking at the current list of the 20 most highly valued startups validates this belief. Among the 48 founders of these companies, seven have attended Stanford. B

But perhaps more surprising is the fact that eight of the founders have attended public colleges and universities.

In fact, founders of the world’s largest tech startups have CVs filled with schools better known for pigskin success than startups.

Look at a company like Xiaomi, the Chinese consumer electronics company that tops the list with a $50 billion valuation. The founders earned degrees at prominent Chinese universities, as well as places like Georgia Tech and Purdue. Both are great schools but have had more success in the Big 10 and ACC than the NASDAQ.

The most surprising finding in this list is that MIT has produced fewer mega-unicorns than two tiny art schools — the Rhode Island School of Design and The Art Center School of Design.

Two of Xiaomi’s founders were design majors. RISD, an art school that isn’t even included in the U.S. News & World Reports rankings, educated two of Airbnb’s founders.

If you want to start a world-changing company, forget computer science and consider industrial design — between Airbnb and Xiaomi, four potential billionaires studied the subject.

A pair of outliers do not a trend make, but it should make founders and investors consider whether we’re beginning to see a shift to what Scott Belsky calls the “Interface Layer” of technology.

Going forward, will unicorns be defined less by the core technical innovations that MIT produces in favor of companies that merge tech and liberal arts?

Asia on the rise, Europe in decline?

Since Aileen Lee first assembled her magisterial accounting of unicorns, the startup world has changed dramatically. In 2013, there were 39 companies with billion dollar valuations, now there are more than 100. All of the top 20 startups in her original list were American. The top 20 today include seven companies whose base of operations are in Asia.

Eleven founders received degrees from schools in Asia. Only three founders, the creators of Spotify and a cofounder at Palantir, studied in Europe

That said, education it not a zero-sum proposition. The founder of Asian peer-to-peer lending giant Lufax is an American with a degree from Middlebury. Many of the founding team members at Xiaomi studied extensively in the U.S. Spotify was created by Swedes but is beloved by American teeny-boppers.

And in a welcome, if still slow, sign of progress, there is now a woman, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, leading one of the top 20 unicorns.

Whither the Ivy League?

Harvard and Stanford dominate this sample. Yale and Penn made the list. But Princeton didn’t make the cut, nor did Cornell, Columbia, Brown, or the other Ivies. World class institutions like Northwestern and CalTech are also absent from the tally, while less august regional schools like Baruch College and the University of Calgary made the cut.

The median U.S. News & World Report ranking among the nationally ranked schools on this list is 27.5, impressive, but not unattainable. Harvard and Stanford may admit fewer than 6 percent of applicants, but The University of Oregon admits 73.9 percent. The University of Illinois has a world class computer science program but admits 62.4 percent of applicants.

It’s also heartening to see unicorns coming out of places with relatively affordable tuition like the University of Oregon ($9,918/year) or Georgia Tech ($11,394/year), which offer degrees for the price of a single year on campus at Stanford ($44,757/year).

One other thought: Is the need for a cofounder BS?

The conventional wisdom is that great tech companies are formed by a team of cofounders, ideally ones who met in school. Filo and Yang, Larry and Sergey, and so on. The study-buddies turned startup cofounders story holds true in the case of Airbnb and Snapchat, but this top-20 sample also calls that advice into question.

Six of the 20 most valuable companies in tech have just a single founder. Paul Graham put the lack of a cofounder on the top of his list of Mistakes that Kill Startups. Two of the teams have more than five cofounders, which is another practice thought leaders usually warn against. But the performance of companies at the mega-unicorn scale make Mark Suster’s blog post The Cofounder Mythology required reading for anyone contemplating the creation of a new company.

Happy unicorn hunting

While these numbers are interesting, remember, founding a startup, especially a unicorn, isn’t a probability game. There are over 100 companies with valuations over $1 billion dollars. Choosing the top 20 isn’t a scientific sample, and there are bound to be oddities among outliers.

This sample is completely arbitrary in terms of timeframe. These companies are evaluated on highly subjective private market valuations that could change rapidly. Every acquisition or IPO shakes up the sample dramatically.

But one thing that’s unmistakable looking at this list is that the education required to launch a world-changing company is more accessible than you might think. Don’t assume that because you didn’t go to college in Palo Alto you’re doomed to small dreams. To crib a line from a great critic — “Not everyone can create a great startup, but a great startup can come from anywhere.” 

SEE ALSO: The best tech startups in Germany 2015

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Creativity and art are usually thought of as the domains of humans.

But computer scientists from Rutgers University have designed an algorithm that shows that computers may be just as skilled at critiquing artwork. By judging paintings based on their novelty and influence, the mathematical algorithm selected the most creative paintings and sculptures of each era.

The study, published in arxiv, found that more often than not, the computer chose what most art historians would also agree are groundbreaking works, like Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and Pablo Picasso's "The Young Ladies of Avignon."

Scroll down to see which paintings made the cut, and why.

The algorithm's network included over 62,000 paintings spanning 550 years and some of the most well-known names in art history, from the Renassaince era to the age of pop art. This painting by Lorenzo di Credi is often called the Dreyfus Madonna, after Gustav Dreyfus, one of its longtime owners.

The paintings were arranged on a timeline according to the date it was made, so each painting could be critiqued with a historical point of view. The algorithm looked for paintings that differed from the work that came before to measure its novelty. This fresco mural by Andrea Mantegna decorates one of the walls in a castle in Mantua, Italy.

The computer algorithm also weighed how influential each painting was by looking at paintings that imitated its style. Leonardo da Vinci painted this portrait of St. John the Baptist late in his career, leading an artistic era called Mannerism, which is characterized by exaggerated poses.

Eric Edwards, a Brooklyn-based former AT&T executive, has launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to create a museum to house his 2,500-piece collection of African art and artifacts, worth approximately $10 million.

If Edwards raises $35,000 in the next 39 days, the resulting institution will be known as the Cultural Museum of African Art Eric Edwards Collection, and will likely open in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood by the end of the year.

Edwards hopes to feature rotating exhibits in addition to his collection of metal works, clothing, musical instruments, fine art, and ceremonial masks.

The collection has taken Edwards 44 years to amass, and represents all 54 countries in Africa, with artifacts dating as far back as the Nubian empire. 

In addition to making his collection accessible to the public, Edwards hopes to display his extensive library of books on African art, host public programs, and potentially even rent studio space to local artists.

"My life's mission has shifted from building this collection, to ensuring that it can find a home where it can be preserved and cared for," he told Gothamist.

Edwards was recently the subject of The Collector, a short documentary film by filmmaker Mark Zemel, which reveals both the extent of his collection and the lengths he will go to get what he wants.

"If it's within my grasp, and I know that's something I want, I go after it with full voracity," he says in the film.

Donations to the Kickstarter campaign will go towards costs associated with opening the museum, including the hiring of a development aid to raise capital funds, finding and finalizing a location for the museum, appraisal fees, funding expenses for the first two exhibitions, and the hiring of an administrative assistant and web developer.

"It is our hope that this museum will help introduce future generations of Americans to the rich cultural heritage of Africa," the Kickstarter text reads. "It is important for all of us to know who we are, and where we come from, so that we can be more proud citizens and positive contributors to society."

This museum seems to be proposed at just the right time, as the market for African art is on the rise, and one of the highlights of Frieze Week in New York was a much-needed fair devoted to work by contemporary African artists.

SEE ALSO: 11 crazy interactive art pieces you're actually allowed to touch

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When an internet community sets its mind to something, it can achieve almost anything. Just look at the successful Reddit-wide search for the creator of a popular disposable cup design called "Jazz."

Jazz is a design iconic of the nineties, and its devoted internet fanbase spans Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. F*ck Jerry, a massively popular Instagram account managed by Elliot Tebele, uses the design as its avatar.

Jazz's creator, Gina Ekiss, was successfully identified yesterday by Thomas Gounley, a journalist with the Springfield News-Leader in Missouri, whose interest was piqued when he saw a Reddit thread dedicated to the cup and tracking down its designer.

Redditor mcglaven created the original post, and 885 enthusiastic and excited comments later it was deduced that Jazz was designed by "a woman named Gina who worked for Sweetheart Cup Company in the late 1980s or early 1990s," Gounley reports. 

That inspired Gounley to go searching in another corner of the internet — Twitter.

He found a tweet written earlier this month by a woman claiming she was the daughter of Jazz's designer. Gounley then scoured public records databases for someone with the same name.

He found a woman in Aurora, Missouri who met the criteria, so he drove 45 minutes to her house and knocked on her front door.

Gina Ekiss confirmed what Gounley was hoping would be true — she had designed the Jazz design in 1989.

Ekiss says she submitted the design during a company contest and it was chosen by executives at the company in 1991 to appear on dixie cups and other paper products. 

She also says received no bonus when her design was selected, even though Sweetheart told her Jazz was the top-grossing stock in history.

Jazz's fan base was thrilled by Gounley's discovery. 

Earlier today, mcglaven took to Reddit to celebrate finding Gina Ekiss.

"I can't take credit for really doing anything, though — I just lit the match," they posted. "The kindling — that is, the internet's fervor for the Jazz cup—was just waiting to be set ablaze." 

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Brittany Wright has amassed a huge following on Instagram for her #FoodGradient photos. The professional photographer shows us how she makes photos that over 100,000 people are obsessed with.

Produced by Will Wei. Additional camera by Corey Protin& Monica Manalo.

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Welsh artist and Cardiff School graduate Arron Kuiper has created his own innovative style of 3D painting he's coined Gel Paintings.

Using syringes, Kuiper injects oil paint into a water-based transparent gel held within a clear recycled container, like a fish bowl or jam jar.

“It's like being able to paint with brush strokes in midair, or an analog 3D printing,” the artist tells The Creators Project.

Kuiper's 3D technique gives tangibility and texture to a range of scenes, from eerie bust-like portraits to surreal snapshots from his childhood. “It is easy to wave a syringe around trailing color to make abstract works," he adds. "For me the challenge and satisfaction lies in being figurative, in creating worlds.” 

Below, a few of Kuiper's newest works:

See more from Arron Kuiper on his Facebook. 

SEE ALSO: The most expensive, over-the-top pieces of art owned by tech billionaires

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A group of 14 paintings, watercolors, and drawings by Adolf Hitler went under the hammer at the Weilder auction house in Nuremberg this weekend, collectively fetching €400,000 ($450,000).

The most expensive work, which fetched €100,000, went to a buyer from China.

The painting is of King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle, which is now a popular tourist attraction.

A floral still life sold for €73,000.

The unidentified buyers of the works, signed “A. Hitler," came from all over the world, including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, France, and Germany.

"These collectors are not specialized in works by this particular painter but rather have a general interest in high-value art," said Kathrin Weidler of the auction house to DPA.

A watercolor from Hitler's mediocre artistic oeuvre, The Old Town Hall(1914-15), was sold at Weilder's last November for €130,000 ($147,444). A terrible flower painting of his was withdrawn from auction at Nate D. Sanders Fine Autographs and Memorabilia in Los Angeles in March of this year.

Hitler initially wanted to become an artist, and applied to the Vienna Academy of Art but was rejected. He went on to sell paintings to tourists that he had copied from postcards.

In an Oct 30, 1939, article in Life magazine, Hitler reportedly told a British ambassador at the time, "I am an artist and not a politician." He continued, "One the Polish question is settled, I want to end my life as an artist."

It is not illegal to sell the Nazi leader's paintings in Germany as long as they do not bear any banned, related symbols.

SEE ALSO: You just bought your first big piece of art — here's what to do next

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Here at Business Insider, we're growing rapidly. In the last year, we've moved into a new office and have since expanded to two floors. We just keep getting bigger and bigger!

One thing we also have a lot of is wall space. We thought the lack of art in our office was starting to look sad, so we called on our team to submit their best photos for our first ever Business Insider photo contest. They gave us some amazing shots taken all over the world, including great snaps from our offices in San Francisco and London.

When it came time to pick the winners, we thought who better to decide the best pictures than our loyal readers. So, check out the pictures and at the end, be sure to pick your favorites. We'll post pics of the framed art hanging on our walls.

The streets of New York City are busy, no matter the hour.

But you don't forget to look up every once in a while.

No matter how you travel in the Big Apple, you can find beauty.

The Selfie Plant was designed by Haoyu Li, Manu Dixit, and Shruti KNR with the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). Like people, the plant changes its angle and considers its mood, weather, and the occasion to take 'nice-looking' selfies. It even posts the photos to Facebook. 

Video courtesy of CIID

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