All upcoming programs

Experience a unique adventure with Paul Glenshaw inspired by his Smithsonian Associates’ Art + History series. Join him on visits to several distinctive sites around the Washington, D.C. area as he reveals hidden stories, lesser-known facts, and fascinating connections among art, architecture, and the historical moments they represent. What’s not revealed in advance are the destinations. Are you game for this artfully secretive—but rewarding­—excursion? (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The 49th season of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society features musical masterpieces from the early 17th century to the middle of the 20th, played on some of the world’s most highly prized musical instruments in an 8-concert series. This concert features music of John Ward and Henry Purcell with the Smithsonian Consort of Viols.

Originally part of the residence of the Medici dynasty, the Palatine Gallery encompasses the entire second floor of the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy. Its collection includes the largest concentration of paintings by Raphael in the world, as well as works by Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio and Rubens. Italian Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero discusses some of these magnificent pieces of art. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

As Queen Elizabeth I tightened England’s grip on Ireland, Grace O’Malley—one of the most famous woman sea captains of all time—led her country’s fight against English rule. In 1593 these powerful women met in an encounter that shaped the fate of Ireland. Historian and author Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger traces O’Malley’s remarkable life—from gaining wealth and land through marriage and battle to continuing to resist English authority.

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 a course of three online workshops that explore essential elements of writing and styles through close looking, word-sketching, and imaginative response to prompts. The sessions 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 The Green Door by Lois Mailou Jones.

Claude Monet created his enchanting Water Lilies series with the intention to provide an “asylum of peaceful meditation.” However, the calm and beauty of these luminous works belie the personal loss, turmoil, frustration, and anguish Monet endured in the last 15 years of his life. Author Ross King explores how, despite these travails, Monet turned to his art once again—and continued until his death in 1926. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Between 350 and 750, western Europe underwent a profound transformation. The Roman empire, which had dominated the ancient world for more than half a millennium, collapsed. The last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476, while new peoples competed with the Roman population and with each other. In a 4-part series, historian David Gwynn traces the entangled stories of the Goths, Huns, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons, who interacted in different ways with the Roman empire and its legacy and together shaped the history of Christian Europe and Western civilization. This session focuses on the Franks.

The three voyages of Captain James Cook from 1768 to 1779 were filled with high drama, tragedy, intrigue, and humor. Historian Justin M. Jacobs places Cook and his world in historical context, highlights his substantive connections with the Polynesian world, and examines his search for the “Great Southern Continent” and Northwest Passage.

Montgomery C. Meigs was one of the most influential yet underrated figures of 19th-century America, observes Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours. Renowned for energy, precision, and prickly determination, his legacy is stamped across the nation’s capital. As Quartermaster General of the Union Army, he supplied and equipped more than two million troops. He proposed transforming the Lee family estate at Arlington into a burial ground. Meigs oversaw the Capitol’s cast-iron dome, Washington’s aqueduct, and the Pension Office, later choosing his epitaph: “Soldier, Engineer, Architect, Scientist, Patriot.”

The American War of Independence freed the 13 British colonies in North America from Crown rule and set the stage for the United States’ bold experiment in self-government. Drawing on primary sources, historian Christopher Hamner traces the war from its roots in the crises of the 1770s through the opening campaigns of the conflict, culminating in the American victories at Trenton and Princeton and an examination of British strategy in a springtime series. This session focuses on pre-American Revolution events from the Boston Massacre in 1770 to the battle at Bunker Hill in June 1775.