In this colloquium, I will explore recent advancements in cosmology using weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering, focusing on results from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). I'll examine the current status of the ΛCDM model, discussing its successes and emerging challenges, including hints of evolving dark energy and tensions between early and late Universe probes. I will present the latest techniques for inferring cosmological information from photometric galaxy surveys, emphasizing the power of combining multiple probes in the "3x2pt" analysis. I'll then discuss current limitations in cosmological analyses, along with future directions including the use of higher-order statistics through simulation-based inference (focusing on persistent homology), data combination strategies, and improved small-scale modeling. These advancements will offer insights into how we can probe the dark Universe in this era of precision cosmology, leveraging observations of the late-time universe from present and upcoming surveys.