The 1,121 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of two particularly intriguing UNESCO World Heritage sites. This session focuses on the Great Wall of China.
Our favorite moments in films never leave us. In a fall series, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and writer Sara Lukinson revisits more of our favorite movies and characters, the people who dreamed them up, and the lasting memories they made in our lives and our myths. This session showcases these films: Moonstruck and Notting Hill.
The 1,121 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview two particularly intriguing UNESCO World Heritage sites. This session focuses on the Sacred Buddhist Landscape of Bagan.
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 five 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 Kenjiro Nomura’s The Farm.
For centuries, women were conspicuously underrepresented in—and indeed almost absent from—art history books. Art historian Judy Pomerantz examines the role women have played in Western visual arts from the Renaissance to the present through an exploration of the works and lives of female artists who made significant marks on the art of their time and on the course of art history. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
He was the first of the true Romantic composers and possessed an effortless melodic gift that has stirred lovers of music for 200 years. Opera expert Saul Lilienstein provides a chronological overview of Franz Schubert’s life and great achievements.
Ballet is a unique experience in performance art, but what really takes it to its greatest heights is the musical score. In a 2-session introduction, popular speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin uses her unique live piano demonstrations and both historic and contemporary film clips to illustrate how the music from dance masterpieces became a treasured part of our cultural landscape.
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 five 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 Antonio Martorell’s La Playa Negra I (Tar Beach I).
If you’ve always wanted to learn the language and elements of musical notation and composition, this interactive online course led by music educator and conductor Ernest Johnson offers the perfect opportunity. Johnson guides exercises and assignments geared to developing the foundation every musician needs: the aural and visual understanding of pitch, rhythm, harmony, and form.
While the early days of Jamestown were marred with struggle, conflict, and tragedy, the settlement would survive as the first permanent English colony in North America, from which the seeds of the United States grew. Unearth the tumultuous first century of Jamestown with Mark Summers, the public historian for the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project, in this lecture series. This session focuses on the beginnings of Jamestown between 1607 to 1618.
In the right hands, a city becomes an actual character in a film, its locations carefully selected and photographed not only for visual effectiveness but to enhance the narrative’s emotional impact. In an entertaining series, film historian Max Alvarez focuses on movie scenes that illustrate how the same celebrated city—New York, Paris, Los Angeles, or Rome—has been portrayed in various ways depending on the filmmaker’s point of view.
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 five 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 a self-portrait of 19th-century French artist Suzanne Valadon.
While the early days of Jamestown were marred with struggle, conflict, and tragedy, the settlement would survive as the first permanent English colony in North America, from which the seeds of the United States grew. Unearth the tumultuous first century of Jamestown with Mark Summers, the public historian for the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project, in this lecture series. This session focuses on events between 1619 to 1662, including the first documented Africans being brought to Virginia.
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 five 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 Edward Hopper’s People in the Sun.
Indulge in a colorful midwinter escape as horticultural experts lead a series of virtual visits that highlight the beauty of notable botanical gardens. This program spotlights Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Eden Project.
While the early days of Jamestown were marred with struggle, conflict, and tragedy, the settlement would survive as the first permanent English colony in North America, from which the seeds of the United States grew. Unearth the tumultuous first century of Jamestown with Mark Summers, the public historian for the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project, in this lecture series. This session focuses on events between 1622 to 1646, including an uprising by the Powhatans.
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 five 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 Alma Thomas’ colorful compositions, including Pansies in Washington.
Indulge in a colorful midwinter escape as horticultural experts lead a series of virtual visits that highlight the beauty of notable botanical gardens. This program spotlights the Singapore Botanic Garden and Norfolk Botanical Gardens.
Join curator Elizabeth Lay as she hosts an image-rich series on decorative arts and design topics with guests. In this winter lunchtime program, Lay's guest is Rosemary Harden, senior curator and Fashion Museum Bath manager, who surveys the past, present, and future of this museum.
While the early days of Jamestown were marred with struggle, conflict, and tragedy, the settlement would survive as the first permanent English colony in North America, from which the seeds of the United States grew. Unearth the tumultuous first century of Jamestown with Mark Summers, the public historian for the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project, in this lecture series. This session focuses on events between 1675 to 1699, including Bacon's Rebellion.
Geography, geology, wind and weather, legend and language: all play a role in shaping the artistic vocabulary of national identity, and none more so than the countries situated around the wild oceans of the Baltic, North, and Norwegian seas. Popular speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin draws on unique live piano demonstrations and fascinating film clips to explore both well- and lesser-known masterpieces by composers from this region.
The 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of Samarra and the Abbasid Caliphate.
Indulge in a colorful midwinter escape as horticultural experts lead a series of virtual visits that highlight the beauty of notable botanical gardens. This program spotlights the Temple Gardens of Kyoto, Japan.
The 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of Angor Wat.
Join curator Elizabeth Lay as she hosts an image-rich series on decorative arts and design topics with guests. In this winter lunchtime program, Lay's guest is textile historian Natalie F. Larson, who uses primary sources to look at the variety of sleeping arrangements from slave dwellings and Indigenous populations to the homes of middle-class and upwardly aspiring Virginians.
The work of American artists today explores an enormous range of materials, techniques, and styles—a pluralistic experimentation that encompasses forms from conceptual and super-realist art to environmental and performance art. Art historian Nancy G. Heller surveys the roots and later influences of radical American art from the last five decades. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 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.
The 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of Philippine Rice Terraces of Ifugao.
Explore how some of the greatest philosophers have approached one of the central questions of the Western tradition—how to define and lead a good life—and how the question lives on today. Philosophy professor Michael Gorman examines the precepts of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, as well as the viewpoints of more modern thinkers in an insightful 4-session series.
The 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of Sacred Sites of Tibet.
Join curator Elizabeth Lay as she hosts an image-rich series on decorative arts and design topics with guests. In this winter lunchtime program, Lay's guest is textile conservationist Julia M. Brennan, who has built cultural bridges to preserve textile heritage.
The 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites throughout the world provide fascinating glimpses into the evolution of complex civilizations, empires, and religions. In a lavishly illustrated series, historian Justin M. Jacobs offers an in-depth overview of Brasilia, the Utopian Capital of Brazil.
