--- title: The Best of Culture 2016 description: In a tumultuous year, the arts turned to explorations of identity, justice and intimacy. From a fierce Beyoncé anthem to the tale of an alienated... canonical: https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-08T14:12:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:12:24.819Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Best of Culture 2016 og:description: In a tumultuous year, the arts turned to explorations of identity, justice and intimacy. From a fierce Beyoncé anthem to the tale of an alienated... og:url: https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best of Culture 2016 twitter:description: In a tumultuous year, the arts turned to explorations of identity, justice and intimacy. From a fierce Beyoncé anthem to the tale of an alienated... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Best of Culture 2016 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 8, 2016 2:12 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 8, 2016 2:12 PM UTC In a tumultuous year, the arts turned to explorations of identity, justice and intimacy. From a fierce Beyoncé anthem to the tale of an alienated man-horse, these works inspired both empathy and insight. [The 10 Best Albums](http://time.com/4577061/top-10-best-albums-2016/) [The 10 Best Shows ](http://time.com/4575328/top-10-tv-shows-2016/)[The 10 Best Movies](http://time.com/4590638/the-top-10-best-movies/) [The 10 Best Performances](http://time.com/4590648/top-10-best-movie-performances-2016/) [The 10 Best Songs](http://time.com/4575319/top-10-best-songs-2016/) [The 10 Best Novels](http://time.com/4571550/top-10-novels-2016/) [The 10 Best Nonfiction Books](http://time.com/4571633/top-10-nonfiction-books-2016/) [The 10 Best Episodes](http://time.com/4574935/top-10-tv-episodes-2016/) Plus [more](http://time.com/collection/top-10-list-2016/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/"},"headline":"The Best of Culture 2016","datePublished":"2016-12-08T14:12:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:12:24.819Z","description":"In a tumultuous year, the arts turned to explorations of identity, justice and intimacy. From a fierce Beyoncé anthem to the tale of an alienated...","url":"https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4594961/the-best-of-culture-2016/","name":"The Best of Culture 2016"}}]}] ```