ART SCI ENCE STUDIO ARTS

Unless noted, all programs are presented on Zoom; listed times are Eastern Time. Online registration is required.

You love art. Now go deeper.

Art is all around us. It excites us, enriches our lives, and enlivens our imaginations. To truly appreciate any work of art, we need to understand the context and culture in which it was created. That’s why Smithsonian Associates offers a Certificate Program in World Art History

The wide-ranging offerings are designed to provide a global perspective on art and architecture and draw on the Smithsonian’s world-class collections and the rich resources of other Washington institutions. They are selected from among Smithsonian Associates courses, seminars, study tours, and studio art classes.

Look for World Art History Certificate throughout the program guide to see current listings. Get started today and complete the certificate requirements at your own pace. Registration is ongoing and year round. Credits are counted from day of registration and are not given retroactively.

SmithsonianAssociates.org/artcertificate

Spring’s Awakening A Reflective Writing Workshop

Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by works of art by Vincent van Gogh and poetry by Mary Oliver, explore the lessons that the season of spring offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect.

Designed for writers of all levels, the workshop invites you to look outward at paintings and poetry and to look inward through writing. These reflections can become creative fertile ground for memoir, poetry, and more. The workshop has a limited enrollment to maximize interaction among the instructor and students.

NEW DATE: Tues., April 11, 10-11:30 a.m.; CODE 1K0-384; Members $40; Nonmembers $45

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

Art and Fiction

A picture is not only worth a thousand words: It can sometimes inspire a whole invented world. Independent art historian Heidi Applegate explores the art and artists behind three works of historical fiction. Gain new perspectives on Renaissance portraiture; Dutch still lifes, genre painting, and a cabinet house; and the Frick Collection in New York City by delving into the novels, followed by Applegate’s examination of the factual background along with the fiction.

APR 7 Maggie O’Farrell, The Marriage Portrait, 2022

MAY 12 Jessie Burton, The Miniaturist, 2014

JUN 16 Fiona Davis, The Magnolia Palace, 2022

3 sessions: Fri., April 7, May 12, June 16, 12-1:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-762; Members $60; Nonmembers $65

Art Crimes: Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich

Expert on art fraud, author, and former FBI agent Robert Wittman draws from his book The Devil’s Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich to recount his 2013 recovery of the long-lost private diary of the Nazi Party’s chief ideologue, who laid the philosophical foundations for the Holocaust. Rosenberg’s diary had been lost for more than 60 years and its longhidden contents offer first-person insights into the Nazi rise to power, the genesis of the Final Solution, and Germany’s brutal occupation of the Soviet Union.

Wed., April 12, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-351; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit Introduction to American Art

From the glorious vistas of landscape painting to the bold splashes and strokes of Abstract Expressionism, American artists have captured the nation’s enormous energy and tumultuous growth. Art historian Bonita Billman introduces major artists and movements in American painting from the late 18th century to the present, revealing the connections between historical changes and artistic choices.

APR 13 Early American Art

APR 20 Landscape Painting

APR 27 Realism and Impressionism

MAY 4 Early Modernism

MAY 11 Modern and Contemporary Art

5 sessions: Thurs., April 13–May 11, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-253; Members $85; Nonmembers $95

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Artists and Friends in the World of Manet

Cézanne and Pissarro, Van Gogh and Lautrec

The lone artist, wrestling with their genius and isolated by their obsession with work, is a popular stereotype. But it’s often through their close friendships with other artists that great creative leaps are made. When thinking of great painters who painted Provence, two names jump to mind: Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne. But before they created their celebrated works there, these outsiders had profound experiences and friendships in Paris that would alter their artistic paths.

Popular Smithsonian Associates speaker Paul Glenshaw examines two such relationships: Paul Cézanne’s friendship with Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh’s with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the vibrant avant-garde art scene pioneered by Édouard Manet.

APR 13 Paris and Manet

APR 20 Curious Kindreds: Cézanne and Pissarro

APR 27 Curious Kindreds: van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec

3 sessions: Thurs., April 13–27, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-362; Members $60; Nonmembers $70

SmithsonianAssociates.org/artcertificate

Art-full Fridays | Live from Italy, with Elaine Ruffolo

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit