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

Image title: Deity figure Medium: Pyroxene jadeite Date: 200–600 CE Source: The Met Collection   “ All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ” — Pablo Picasso Mythology Rewired: How Sci-Fi Artists are Redrawing Ancient Gods   Introduction: The Fusion of Cosmos and Pantheon From Zeus wielding a lightning bolt to Anubis guarding the underworld, mythology has long provided humanity with archetypes that explain the cosmos Read more…

Image title: Charity Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1630 Source: The Met Collection   “ In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. ” — William Blake Political Flesh: Sculpting Revolution in Postcolonial Africa   Introduction: The Chisel of Sovereignty In the turbulent wake of Africa’s decolonization, the continent’s newly independent nations embarked on an urgent quest for self-definition. While constitutions were drafted and flags unfurled, another kind of language entered the Read more…

Image title: The Musicians Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1597 Source: The Met Collection   “ There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. ” — Edith Wharton The Mirror Cracked: Self-Portraiture from Caravaggio to Cindy Sherman   Introduction: Reflections Across Time The self-portrait is one of the most enduring and revealing genres in the history of visual art. It is the artist’s declaration of presence, Read more…

Image title: Pendant mask of Ìyọ́bà Idià Medium: Ivory, iron, brass, coal, traces of iron oxides Date: 16th century Source: The Met Collection   “ As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, does not adhere, so the sage does not adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed. ” — The Buddha Not Just Ink on Skin: Tattooing as Living Sculpture Across Cultures   Introduction: Skin as Read more…

Image title: Plate with trumpeter Medium: Ceramic, slip Date: 700–800 CE Source: The Met Collection   “ The fact is, with every friendship you make, and every bond of trust you establish, you are shaping the image of America projected to the rest of the world. That is so important. So when you study abroad, you’re actually helping to make America stronger. ” — Michelle Obama Frescoes of Resistance: Political Murals Across Latin America   Read more…

Image title: The Adoration of the Magi Medium: Distemper on canvas Date: 1472–74 Source: The Met Collection   “ The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives. ” — Louise Hay ‘Fossils of Expression’: Why Some Artists Paint Extinct Species   Introduction: Painting What No Longer Lives Art has always had a complicated relationship with time. While photographs capture a split second and sculptures suggest Read more…

Image title: Quilt, Album pattern Medium: Cotton Date: begun 1846 Source: The Met Collection   “ History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. ” — Winston Churchill Off the Wall: A History of Art Made to Be Touched   Introduction: Rethinking the Visual in Visual Arts Art has long been considered a dominantly visual experience, bound to walls and gallery lighting. Yet, throughout history, artists and cultures across the globe Read more…

Image title: Kneeling Black woman Medium: Brazilian rosewood; pedestal: lapis lazuli, marble and gilded metal Date: early 17th century Source: The Met Collection   “ There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with. ” — Marcus Aurelius Venus Was Black?: Reimagining Classical Sculpture Through African Diasporic Lenses   Introduction: White Marble, Erased Histories For centuries, the pure white aesthetic of Greco-Roman sculpture has stood as a Read more…