Explore the past, understand the present, and inspire the future.

Image title: The Harvesters Medium: Oil on wood Date: 1565 Source: The Met Collection   “ The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. ” — Alfred North Whitehead ‘Melted Gods’: Climate Change Through the Lens of Contemporary Sculpture   Introduction: The Age of Deforming Art As the Earth warms and climate change grows more urgent with each passing year, visual artists are finding new ways to Read more…

Image title: Headdress ornament Medium: Gold Date: 100 BCE–700 CE Source: The Met Collection   “ To fly, we have to have resistance. ” — Maya Lin Tactile Protest: Textile Art in Global Resistance Movements   Introduction: When Threads Speak Louder Than Words Throughout history, textile art has quietly stitched its way into the heart of political resistance. Far from decorative, quilts, embroidery, weaving, and banners have served as vivid tools of protest, storytelling, and Read more…

Image title: Joan of Arc Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1879 Source: The Met Collection   “ To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well. ” — John Marshall Celestial Palettes: Astronomy’s Influence on Art from Galileo to James Webb   Introduction: When Stars Become Muse From the moment humankind looked up and wondered about the stars, the cosmos has served not only as a source of Read more…

Image title: Young Lady in 1866 Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1866 Source: The Met Collection   “ The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. ” — Alfred Tennyson ‘This Is Not a Nude’: Revisiting the History of Gendered Gaze in Sculpture   Introduction: What Lies Beneath the Marble From the glistening torsos of Greek heroes to the fragmented, defiant forms Read more…

Image title: The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1874 Source: The Met Collection   “ The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder. ” — Richard Bach Brushstrokes Behind Bars: Prison Art Movements That Changed National Conversations   Introduction: Art as Resistance Behind Bars Throughout history, visual art has served as a powerful medium of expression, healing, and protest. Nowhere is this Read more…

Image title: The Harvesters Medium: Oil on wood Date: 1565 Source: The Met Collection   “ I can, therefore I am. ” — Simone Weil ‘I Paint Therefore I Am’: Ontology Through the Eyes of Agnes Martin   Introduction: Painting as Existence Agnes Martin, the enigmatic pioneer of minimalist art, once said, “Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.” Her seemingly austere grids—lines suspended over tinted, primed canvases—belie a quiet depth that Read more…

Image title: The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment Medium: Oil on canvas, transferred from wood Date: ca. 1436–38 Source: The Met Collection   “ Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship. ” — Johann Kaspar Lavater The Color Black: Material Mysteries from Carbon to Vantablack   Introduction: Black as a Beginning, Not an Absence In the vast palette of art Read more…

Image title: Night-Shining White Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper Date: ca. 750 Source: The Met Collection   “ I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others. ” — Confucius ‘I Am Not Your Artifact’: Postcolonial Resistance in Museum Curation Artworks   Introduction: A New Kind of Museum Intervention Across the grand halls of Western museums stand echoes of empires: looted artifacts, decontextualized objects, Read more…