In the early decades of the 20th century, Sears Roebuck & Co. sold more than 70,000 prefabricated Modern Homes kits, offering all Americans the chance to own an up-to-date house. Historian Dakota Springston draws on period and contemporary images to lead a virtual tour through several historic Northern Virginia neighborhoods that boast a wide range of these distinctive houses, followed by a Q&A with a Sears Homes expert.
Thomas Gainsborough, one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century, was also one of England’s earliest homegrown geniuses. Art historian Bonita Billman examines Gainsborough’s lush painterly technique, iconic masterworks (especially those in America), and his influence on painting. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
British artist J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) is known for innovative landscape paintings that captured nature’s power and drama. Tim Barringer, a professor of art history at Yale University, places a selection of Turner’s works in historical context. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights Avignon and La Vraie Provence.
Florentine architecture in the 13th and 14th centuries was characterized by soaring towers, massive fortress-like palaces, breathtakingly beautiful basilicas, and public buildings that set an important precedent for the future palace builders of wealthy patrician families. From her home in Tuscany, art historian Elaine Ruffolo traces how the built environment of medieval Florence clearly reflects the historical development of the city at the dawn of the Renaissance. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by works of art by Vincent van Gogh and poetry by Mary Oliver, writers of all levels explore the lessons that the season of spring offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect.
A picture is not only worth a thousand words: It can sometimes inspire a whole invented world. Independent art historian Heidi Applegate explores the art and artists behind three works of historical fiction. Gain new perspectives on Renaissance portraiture; Dutch still lifes, genre painting, and a cabinet house; and the Frick Collection in New York City by delving into the novels, followed by Applegate’s examination of the factual background along with the fiction. This is a “novel” way to explore the arts. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
Expert on art fraud, author, and former FBI agent Robert Wittman draws from his book The Devil’s Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich to recount his 2013 recovery of the long-lost private diary of the Nazi Party’s chief ideologue, who laid the philosophical foundations for the Holocaust. Rosenberg’s diary had been lost for more than 60 years and its long-hidden contents offer first-person insights into the Nazi rise to power, the genesis of the Final Solution, and Germany’s brutal occupation of the Soviet Union.
From the glorious vistas of American landscape painting to the bold splashes and strokes of Abstract Expressionism, American artists have captured the nation’s enormous energy and tumultuous growth. Art historian Bonita Billman introduces major artists and movements in American painting from the late 18th century to the present, revealing the connections between historical changes and artistic choices. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
Before Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne created their celebrated works in Provence, these outsiders had profound experiences and friendships in Paris that would alter their artistic paths. In a 3-session course, popular Smithsonian Associates speaker Paul Glenshaw examines two such relationships: Cézanne’s friendship with Camille Pissarro and van Gogh’s with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the vibrant avant-garde art scene pioneered by Édouard Manet. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
The Uffizi Gallery has long been regarded as one of the most important museum collections in the world, boasting some of the greatest masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance. From her home in Tuscany, art historian Elaine Ruffolo leads a lively two-part virtual walk through the Uffizi as she discusses its history, architecture, Medici connections, and an in-depth examination of the best of the remarkable painting collection. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Brooklyn offers plenty of delights for lovers of art, music, nature, and of course, food. On this two-day visit, arts journalist and former Brooklynite Richard Selden introduces you to several of the borough’s top attractions.
Two faculty members of Harvard University, Martin Puchner, a professor of English and comparative literature, and Maya Jasanoff, a professor of history, converse on how humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations the meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Vanessa Bell’s A Conversation.
The Etruscans hold a reputation for mystery, but the truth is we know a lot about these creative ancient Italians and their remarkable contributions to the history of art. Art historian and author Laura Morelli takes a deep dive into the heart of ancient Italy as she examines three masterworks of painting, sculpture, and metalwork that reflect Etruscan culture’s unique place in the Mediterranean world. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
From India’s elaborately decorated Ajanta Caves to the splendor of the Taj Mahal, UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites offers a spectacular window into South Asia’s past. Art historian Robert DeCaroli highlights palaces, grand temples, royal mausoleums, and more that showcase the subcontinent’s abundant historically and culturally significant destinations. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
PBS television host Darley Newman shares great places to discover in Türkiye (the now-official name for Turkey) and how to get the most out of your travels, whether you’re visiting bustling bazaars in Istanbul or venturing off the beaten path. Discover the most intriguing places to experience food, culture, adventure, and history in Istanbul, Cappadocia, Anatolia, Antalya, and the Aegean Coast.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Cecilia Beaux’s Sita and Sarita.
For over 40,000 years, people have lived and traveled among the islands that dot the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, establishing thriving and interconnected states and societies and creating artworks that express the excitement and vitality of their lives. Art historian Kevin Tervala surveys the artistic practice across 20th-century Oceania, examining the ways that European colonization and decolonization, the Pacific theater of World War II, and the increasingly globalized nature of the economy transformed the work that artists did and the forms that they produced. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Isabella Stewart Gardner assembled an extraordinary collection of art from diverse cultures and eras and built a Venetian-style palazzo in Boston to share her exquisite treasures with the world. Diana Seave Greenwald, assistant curator of the collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, shines new light on Gardner as a trailblazing patron and collector who created a museum unprecedented in its curatorial vision. She also discusses how Gardner’s far-flung journeys to fill that museum—recorded in her exquisitely crafted collaged travel albums—reveal the global influences of this legendary collector. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Many of Rome's greatest art treasures are displayed in the private collections of historically influential Roman families. Fortunately, a number of these art collections are now museums open to the public. Rocky Ruggiero, an expert in Renaissance art, surveys four of these private collections and explains how the artworks held there helped shape the Italian Renaissance. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Canaletto’s Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Molo, Venice.
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights Côte d’Azur.
Discover one of the finest and most personal museums in Washington in a private, small-group experience that invites you to spend a day exploring Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens, the former residence of businesswoman and collector Marjorie Merriweather Post. Stroll through themed gardens at their spring best and take in a mansion filled with stunning collections of French and Russian decorative arts (including Faberge eggs)—all reflections of the distinctive artistic focus Mrs. Post brought to transforming Hillwood into her own after purchasing the estate in 1955. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Art historian Joseph Cassar explores Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky, a leading figure in the development of abstract painting. His illustrated overview includes a focus on the works Kandinsky produced in the pre-WWI Murnau Period and as part of the avant-garde Blaue Reiter group; his publications and teaching years at the Bauhaus; and a critical analysis of Kandinsky’s abstract paintings and his final years in Paris in the 1930s and ’40s. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Despite Frank Lloyd Wright’s prolific career—spanning seven decades studded with glittering accomplishments and triumphs—his personal and professional life was plagued with tragedy, scandal, divorce, murder, and financial setbacks. Bill Keene, a lecturer in urban studies, and architecture, looks beyond the buildings to the man with the pencil, triangle, and T-square to shed light on the story of the master himself. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Founded in 1903, the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony was born out of the late 19th century’s Arts and Crafts movement and a passion for building a utopian community with like-minded writers, poets, painters, and craftspeople. Curator and author Nancy Green explores how Byrdcliffe began and grew as a community of talented artists and artisans, students and teachers, and their commitment to the goals of joy and fulfillment in their labors and an appreciation of a simple aesthetic harnessed to a simple lifestyle. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Leonardo and Michelangelo: These towering geniuses of Western art disliked each other intensely. But their fraught relationship was fueled by a secret mutual fascination and a fierce competition that spurred them to new levels of artistic achievement. Art historian Nigel McGilchrist depicts the two men as perfectionists and brilliant craftsmen of radically different kinds who revolutionized painting and sculpting. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
Siena’s beautiful townscape encapsulates everything we love about Tuscany—charming towns among rolling hills, rich history, and artistic and architectural treasures from its medieval heyday—rivaled only by its Tuscan neighbors, Florence and Pisa. Art historian and author Laura Morelli leads an immersive virtual tour of the city’s most iconic landmarks and masterpieces by Siena’s most enduring artists. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Not long after Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were posted in 1517, dialogue between Protestants and Catholics broke down and devastating religious wars erupted across Europe. Desperate to restore the peace and recover unity, the Catholic church turned to its longtime allies, the arts. Art historian Elizabeth Lev traces how prelates enlisted the century’s best artists to create a glorious wave of beautiful works of sacred art to draw people together instead of driving them apart. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Art historian Janetta Rebold Benton takes you on a vicarious visit to castle life in medieval and Renaissance England, examining architectural styles, historic structures, and splendid settings. Included are the stories of the grotesque murder of Edward II at Berkley Castle and the adventures of Bess of Hardwick Hall and her four husbands. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
In a program that covers paintings, drawings, etchings, woodblock prints, and sculpture, art historian Joseph Cassar introduces and explores German expressionism as a 20th century movement that emphasized the artist's inner emotions rather than replicating reality. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Frank Lloyd Wright left an indelible signature on the American Midwest: a legacy of buildings that trace the arc of his career as one of world’s most significant and innovative architects. A 5-day tour led by historian Bill Keene offers a one-of-kind opportunity for a close-up look at a wide range of Wright’s designs in Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as visits to seminal works by other architects of the early and mid-20th century. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
The mosque is the defining element of an Islamic community. While there are a few essential components of a mosque, over time and across geographies an astonishing variety of form, building materials, and decoration in mosque architecture developed. Nancy Micklewright, a specialist in the history of Islamic art and architecture, offers a close look at some of the most iconic and spectacular examples of mosques from a variety of parts of the Islamicate world and how these buildings maintain a connection with a building tradition that stretches back to the 7th century CE. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
The public art projects of Christo Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (better known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude) used acres of colorful fabric to cover an entire building, line a path, or surround islands. They took years to accomplish but remained in place for no more than two weeks. Art historian Nancy G. Heller analyzes the couple’s most important works and their long-lasting influence. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights some of the South of France’s lesser-known charms.
Internationally renowned for iconic works such as Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai designed popular woodblock prints on a range of subjects for more than five decades. National Museum of Asian Art curator Kit Brooks examines his print works. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work reflected one central tenet: “To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty. …There are too many ugly things in life as it is without creating still more of them.” He reveled in lush color that can be seen in his sensual nudes, family portraits, landscapes, and genre depictions such as The Luncheon of the Boating Party. Art historian Bonita Billman showcases selections from his more than 4,000 works as she illustrates why Renoir is one of the most highly regarded—and joyful—artists of his time. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
The radical innovations made by European and American painters and sculptors between 1900 and 1960 forever altered the way we think about visual art. In a richly illustrated course, art historian Nancy G. Heller discusses major works by the period’s seminal painters and sculptors, emphasizing their broader socio-political and aesthetic contexts. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
Did Britain’s Lord Elgin rescue ancient Greek marble sculptures and architectural fragments—including a 24-foot marble frieze—from the Parthenon in the early 19th century or did he steal them? Greece's position is clear: The country wants them back from the British Museum. Join art historian Joseph Cassar in an exploration of these ancient sculptures made under the supervision of architect and sculptor Phidias and the controversies that have swirled around them since they left Greece. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
William Louis-Dreyfus (1932–2016) was a poet, businessman, and committed art collector whose collection of close to 4,000 works represents over 50 years of discovery and dedication. Shaped by curiosity, an open mind, and a lifelong fascination with the power of visual media, Louis-Dreyfus’s collection remains remarkable today for its depth and diversity. Get an introduction to this one-of-a-kind collection in a program that begins with a recorded message by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus about her late father’s passion for art. Then, Paul Glenshaw (of Smithsonian Associates’ Art+History series) hosts a live-streamed illustrated lecture about this extraordinary and fascinating collection presented by Mary Anne Costello and Christina Kee, the curators at the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines the collaboration of photographer Walker Evans and writer James Agee. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Ever since its origins in an ancient civilization along the Indus River, the complex culture of South Asia has led to the creation of some of the world’s most remarkable art and architecture. Robert DeCaroli, a professor in the department of history and art history at George Mason University, highlights the artistic traditions and historical changes in the Indian subcontinent from the earliest archaeological evidence to the onset of colonialism. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines William Blake’s roles as poet and painter. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
A popular summer retreat for Bostonians and New Yorkers for well over 150 years, the scenic and historic Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts are alive with music, art, and theater. Arts journalist Richard Selden leads a five-day tour that offers a splendid sampling of cultural attractions in the region, from writers’ historic homes to outstanding museums to music and theater performances.
The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines the multifaceted relationship between Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Anatolia’s colorful history has left a windfall of riches—ancient ruins, ornate Byzantine churches, supremely elegant mosques, and splendid Ottoman palaces. In an illustrated series, Serif Yenen, a Turkish-born tour guide and author, highlights the heritage and splendor of ancient Turkey through an examination of some of its cultural gems.
