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Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the sea of fog, c. 1817 (Hamburger Kunsthalle) — […]

Modern Art in Europe and North America

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History of Global Architecture

Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper - detail — […]

History of Western Art: Renaissance to Revolution, ...

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History of Western Art and Civilization: Prehistory ...

Courses

Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514, engraving, 24.45 x 19.37 cm (Minneapolis Institute of Art) — Explore Dürer's masterful "psychological self-portrait" and the hidden meanings of the various objects in it.

Decoding art: Dürer’s Melencolia I

Court Cupboard, 1665-73, red oak with cedar and maple (moldings), northern white cedar and white pine, 142.6 x 129.5 x 55.3 cm (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art) — We think of Puritans aesthetics as restrained and humble, but this elaborate cupboard proves otherwise.

Thought the Puritans were dour? Think again!

Griselda Pollock unpacks some of the questions raised by Manet’s last masterpiece.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère with Griselda ...

Dmiti Vrubel, Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben, original created 1990, East Side Gallery, Berlin (photo: Pelorucho, CC BY-SA 3.0) — This Cold War icon was much more than just a barrier between East and West.

The Berlin Wall as a political symbol

Palast der Republik, Berlin, 2005 — This building was a symbol of a repressive regime, but the German government's vote to tear it down sparked years of protests.

Negotiating the past in Berlin: the Palast ...

Lawrence captures the vitality of Harlem and highlights the advancements in medical care for and by people of color.

A Harlem street scene by Jacob Lawrence, ...

Raimondi Stele, Chavin de Haunter, Peru, c. 400 B.C.E. — This image is so complex that its features could only be perceived, let alone understood, by the initiated.

Complexity and vision: the Staff God at ...

Antonio de Pereda, Still Life with Ebony Chest, detail, 1652, oil on canvas, 80 x 94 cm (The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg) — In this still life, objects and customs from around the world converge around one delicious food: chocolate.

A Still Life of Global Dimensions: Antonio ...

Marie-Guilhelmine Benoist, Portrait d'une négresse, 1800, oil on canvas, Paris, Musée du Louvre — This portrait of an unnamed woman speaks volumes about slavery, politics, and gender in revolutionary France.

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of a Black Woman

Damnatio memoriae — If the Roman government condemned a ruler, his portraits often died with him.

Damnatio memoriae—Roman sanctions against memory

Ruth Asawa, Untitled, c. 1958, iron wire, 219.7 × 81.3 × 81.3 cm Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. — Asawa was interned in World War II, but we must be careful about interpreting her artworks as related to that trauma.

From wire to weightlessness: Ruth Asawa, Untitled

Pompeii, once called the "City of the Dead," gives a marvelous sense of day-to-day Roman life.

Pompeii, an introduction

Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, tempera and oil on wood, 1434 (National Gallery, London) — Van Eyck’s enigmatic and iconic double portrait often prompts the question: is the female figure pregnant?

The question of pregnancy in Jan van ...

Titian, Two portraits of Pietro Aretino — Two portraits capture the ambition and impudence of Titian's close friend and publicist.

Titian, two portraits of Pietro Aretino

Nan Madol, Pohnpei, Micronesia — No one knows exactly how the people of Nan Madol created this royal capital made of giant stones.

Nan Madol: “In the space between things”