Certif icate Prog ram i n World Art H i story

Art is all around us. It excites us, enriches our lives, and enlivens our imaginations. But to truly appreciate any work of art, we need to understand the context and culture in which it was produced. That’s why Smithsonian Associates offers an exciting 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.

The core courses and electives in our program are selected from among Smithsonian Associates’ ongoing courses, seminars, study tours, and Studio Arts classes. Look for “World Art History Certificate” throughout the program guide to see current listings.

Complete the program requirements at your own pace. Credits are counted from the day of program registration and are not given retroactively.

Register now and receive invitations for special tours and informal gatherings with course leaders and other program participants.

To learn more about the Smithsonian Associates certificate program in World Art History, visit SmithsonianAssociates.org/ArtCertificate

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

Reflective Writing Workshops

The View from Here

Discover the joy and power of reflective writing inspired by visual art. Guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface, participants slow down, look closely, question, wonder, and write, inspired by Hughie Lee-Smith’s intriguing painting, The Beach. These reflections can become fertile creative ground for memoir, poetry, and more. Designed for the curious and writers of all levels, the workshop invites participants to see with new eyes and strengthen their resilience and hope as they look outwardly at art and inwardly through writing. The workshop has a limited enrollment to maximize interaction among the instructor and students.

Tues., June 27, 10–11:30 a.m.; CODE 1K0-382; Members $40; Nonmembers $45

The Beach by Hughie Lee-Smith, 1962

Summer’s Discoveries

Experience 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 Georgia O’Keeffe and poetry by Mary Oliver, explore the lessons that the summer season offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop invites you to look at the world through the lens of painting and poetry and to respond through reflective 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.

Tues., Aug. 22, 10-11:30 a.m.; CODE 1K0-389; Members $40; Nonmembers $45

Lesser-Known Museums of Rome

In this new quarterly series, Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero spotlights the significant collections of Rome’s sometimes-overlooked museums.

Private Art Collections of Rome, Part 2

In 17th-century Rome, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, assembled one of the greatest art collections in history, which is still displayed today in the Borghese Gallery, one of Rome’s most popular museums. His eclectic taste combined works from ancient times, Renaissance masters, and contemporary Baroque artists, such as the tormented painter Caravaggio, as well as the phenomenally talented sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Ruggiero examines the history of the Borghese Gallery and its collection of artistic treasures.

Mon., Aug. 28, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-280; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Hokusai’s Career in Prints

Internationally renowned for iconic works such as Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) designed popular woodblock prints for more than five decades. His boundless creativity led to a prolific output on a range of subjects in a variety of genres. National Museum of Asian Art curator Kit Brooks examines the print works of this artist, who has come to be seen as an embodiment of Japanese artistic style.

Mon., June 5, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-268; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Renoir: The Gift of Joy

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, celebrated as a founding member of the Impressionists, is also hailed by modern realists for his painterly technique and happy subjects. His work reflected one central tenet: “To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty. …There are too many ugly things in life as it is without creating still more of them.” No stonebreakers or railway stations for him.

Renoir reveled in lush color that can be seen in sensual nudes, family portraits, landscapes, and genre depictions such as Luncheon of the Boating Party. Art historian Bonita Billman showcases selections from his prolific oeuvre of more than 4,000 works as she illustrates why Renoir is one of the most highly regarded artists of his time.

Thurs., June 8, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-266; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting in France

The popular style of 19th–century French painting known as Impressionism—filled with color, light, and scintillating brushwork—was an act of extreme rebellion when it appeared in the 1870s. For artists to depict fleeting sensations of rain, a sunrise, or a human gesture was shocking to other artists, art lovers, and critics who had been taught that fine art should focus on timeless and unchanging subject matter.

The work of these modern masters— notably Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt, and Morisot—led in turn to the radical art of the Post-Impressionists. During the 1880s and ’90s, Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh used vivid colors and form to depict subjects from the real world, but in ways that were not always fully realistic.

In a lavishly illustrated 5-session course, art historian Nancy G. Heller explores the sources, masterpieces, and later influences of these rebels, including their impact on 20th-century art. 5 sessions: Wed., Aug. 30–Sept. 27, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-273; Members $85; Nonmembers $95

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit Understanding Modern Art

The radical innovations made by European and American painters and sculptors between 1900 and 1960 forever altered the way we think about visual art. Before World War I, Fauvist and Expressionist painters challenged the traditional Western concept of beauty, while Picasso and Malevich took on thousands of years of art history by exploring the controversial realm of abstraction.

Between the wars, artists as different as Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo made images based on their own dreams and hallucinations. Later, American art finally achieved international recognition through the enormous, dramatic canvases of Jackson Pollock, paving the way for several decades of cultural prominence that began in the 1960s.

In this richly illustrated two-part course, art historian Nancy G. Heller, professor emerita of art history at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, discusses major works by the period’s seminal painters and sculptors, emphasizing their broader socio-political and aesthetic contexts.

FRI., JUNE 9

6:30 p.m. New Art for a New Century

SAT., JUNE 10

10 a.m. Empathy and Shock

11:30 a.m. Beyond Realism and Narrative

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. Exploring the Subconscious

2:45 p.m. The Triumph of American Painting

2 sessions: Fri., June 9, 6:30 p.m. and Sat., June 10, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-263; Members $85; Nonmembers $95

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit for each session

Andy Warhol's World History

Many critics consider Andy Warhol a mirror of his time. Join Grace Marston, arts educator at the Andy Warhol Museum, as she delves into how historical events in the United States and around the world affected Warhol’s art and life. Marston presents artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, including works that are rarely on public display.

AUG 14 1950s and 1960s

AUG 21 1970s and 1980s

2 sessions: Mon., Aug. 14 and 21, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1CV-020; Members $40; Nonmembers $50

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Edward Hopper: American Modernist

Edward Hopper (1882–1967) is widely regarded as one of the great American realists of modern art. His works capture a quintessential view of New York City at a certain time that became part of our cultural fabric. Certainly, many noir films of the 1940s and 1950s reflect Hopper’s personal vision of city life reflected in his paintings: austere, silent, moody, and lonely. Hopper’s oeuvre also includes landscapes which were painted on vacations and road trips.

Art historian Bonita Billman explores the highlights of Hopper’s career and examines the sociopolitical and cultural contexts in which he lived and worked.

Thurs., Sept. 14, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-275; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

The Elgin Marbles Controversy

Did Britain’s Lord Elgin rescue ancient Greek marble sculptures and architectural fragments–including a 24-foot marble frieze–from the Parthenon in 1801 or did he steal them? Greece’s position is clear: The country wants them back from the British Museum. But do the citizens of modern Greece have any claim over items produced in their region by people who lived thousands of years ago?

While the battle over ownership roils, the famed works have already been renamed in wide circles from the Elgin Marbles to the Parthenon Marbles. Art historian Joseph Cassar explores these ancient sculptures made under the supervision of architect and sculptor Phidias and the controversies that have swirled around them since they left Greece.

Mon., June 12, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-369; Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Part

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Philip Johnson and the Glass House

A Life in Art

Delve into one of the nation’s most innovative architectural environments, the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, former home of architect Philip Johnson. First built in 1949 but expanded over decades, it’s now a center for art, architecture, and culture and features examples of some of the most important movements in 20th-century architecture as well as a significant collection of postwar American art. As a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, the Glass House continues to conserve a nearly 50-acre landscape that is as much a part of the visual design as the architecture itself.

Johnson was best known in the world of architecture but played an equally powerful role as a patron of art and was one of the largest donors to New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Hilary Lewis, chief curator and creative director of the Glass House, examines it as a signature work of modern architecture, its roles as a laboratory for architecture and a salon for the arts, and the extraordinary and complex figure behind it.

Thurs., June 22, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1NV-038; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Discovering the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation Art Collection

William Louis-Dreyfus (1932–2016) was a poet, businessman, and committed art collector whose collection of close to 4,000 works represents over 50 years of discovery and dedication. Shaped by curiosity, an open mind, and a lifelong fascination with the power of visual media, Louis-Dreyfus’s collection remains remarkable today for its depth and diversity.

Get an introduction to this one-of-a-kind collection in a program that begins with a recorded message by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who talks about her father’s passion for art and his commitment to education. Then, Paul Glenshaw (of the popular Smithsonian Associates Art+History series) hosts a live-streamed illustrated lecture about this extraordinary and fascinating collection by Mary Anne Costello and Christina Kee, the curators at the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation in Mount Kisco, New York.

Fri., June 23, 12–1:15 p.m.; CODE 1K0-371; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

William Louis-Dreyfus leads students on a visit to the foundation

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit for each session

The Intersection of Art and Literature

The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words—if they are personal interpretations of art that mix fact and fiction such as Giorgio Vasari’s Lives, or the writings of Dante and Shakespeare that inspired Auguste Rodin, or Émile Zola’s written defense of his great friend Édouard Manet’s work and the portrait it inspired. Explore the alchemy that occurs at the intersection of art and literature in this fascinating Sundayafternoon series with David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art.

JUN 25 Walker Evans and James Agee

JUL 23 William Blake: Poet and Painter

AUG 27 Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein

3 sessions: Sun., June 25, July 23, Aug. 27, 3 p.m.; CODE 1H0-773; Members $75; Nonmembers $80

Individual programs: Sun., June 25 (CODE 1H0-773A), July 23 (CODE 1H0-773B), Aug. 27 (CODE 1H0-773C), 3 p.m.; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit

The Art of India: From the Indus Valley to Independence

Ever since its origins in an ancient civilization along the Indus River, the complex culture of South Asia has led to the creation of some of the world’s most remarkable art and architecture. Robert DeCaroli, a professor in the department of history and art history at George Mason University, highlights the artistic traditions and historical changes in the Indian subcontinent from the earliest archaeological evidence to the onset of colonialism.

JUL 12 Origins of South Asian Culture

JUL 19 Kingdoms, Caves, and Temples

JUL 26 Southern Dynasties and Northern Newcomers

AUG 2 The Mughal Court, the British Raj, and the Nationalists

4 sessions: Wed., July 12–Aug. 2, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-275; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

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World

Art History Certificate

elective: Earn ½ credit A Dark, A Light, A Bright The Designs of Dorothy Liebes

Dorothy Liebes was one of the most influential textile designers of the mid-20th century. Her luxurious handwoven fabrics combined vivid color, lush textures, unexpected materials, and a glint of metallic—a style that grew so prevalent it became known as the Liebes Look. She shaped American tastes in areas from interiors and transportation to industrial design, fashion, and film.

The exhibition “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes” opens at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum on July 7. Join organizers Susan Brown, associate curator and acting head of textiles, and Alexa Griffith Winton, manager of content and curriculum, to explore the life and works of this innovative American designer.

Tues., July 11, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1CV-018; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Schiaparelli and the Surrealists

The Art of Fashion

Elsa Schiaparelli did not approach fashion like other designers of her era. She never considered herself a dressmaker but instead saw herself as an artist working in the medium of fabric. She once said that “working with artists like Bébé Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Vertès, van Dongen and with photographers like Hoyningen-Huene, Horst, Cecil Beaton, and Man Ray gave one a sense of exhilaration.”

This was particularly true of her 1937 and 1938 collections, which dazzled with inspirations like her famous “Lobster Dress,” a white silk organza dinner dress that serves as the canvas for a Dali-painted crustacean and a black jersey coat with silk tucked roses featuring Jean Cocteau’s double-image chalice. Spend an evening with historian and curator Elizabeth Lay as she examines Schiaparelli’s designs in the context of the subversive art and photography of the period. Both Schiaparelli and the Surrealists were experimenting in new materials and a new artistic expression as Europe moved closer and closer to war.

Tues., July 18, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-376; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Stepping Forward: Women Designers 1900–1950

The earliest women to gain prominence in design in the 20th century entered through traditionally domestic portals such as textiles, fashion, jewelry, and interior design. Then, with access to educational opportunities and the changes wrought by a world war, women began to expand their skills to architecture, industrial design, and manufacturing.

Many of these women are lost to the traditional narrative apart from a few “design heroines,” notes design historian and curator Elizabeth Lay. Often these women received public recognition and celebrity during their lives, only to be obscured by history—or the work of their male design partners.

Join Lay for a course in which she focuses on two generations of women working as skilled design professionals in the modern era. Some names, such as fashion designers Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet, and Coco Chanel and architects and furniture designers Eileen Gray and Florence Knoll, may be familiar. And you'll make the acquaintance of other artists like Clara Driscoll of Tiffany Studios, jewelry designer Suzanne Belperron, architect Charlotte Perriand, and the women of the Bauhaus textile department.

Florence Knoll, 1956

2 sessions: Mon., Aug. 7 and 14, 12–1:15 p.m.; CODE 1K0-385; Members $35; Nonmembers $45

Lunchtime with a Curator

Entertaining and Design at the White House

Beginning with its first resident, President John Adams, the White House has witnessed countless holidays, celebrations, and official functions. Presidential entertaining in the modern era has only continued to grow in scale and artistic creativity.

Curator Elizabeth Lay welcomes John Botello, creative manager of the White House–Executive Residence, for an image-rich program on 21st-century style at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of his work on events and interior design, and shares what goes into planning—down to the smallest detail—projects from a state dinner to the annual holiday decorations. Before his current role, Botello served at Blair House, the U.S. State Department, the White House Historical Association, the Smithsonian, and Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens.

Mon., July 24, 12–1 p.m.; CODE 1K0-372; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Frida Kahlo: Her Art and Life

Labeled a Surrealist because of the fantastical, often nightmarish quality of her paintings, Frida Kahlo always countered that she didn’t paint dreams: She painted her own reality. Kahlo had hoped to become a doctor, but a bus accident at age 18 left her near death. She recovered, but despite numerous operations she spent the rest of her life in pain.

The paintings Kahlo made during her lengthy convalescence opened a new path. She was especially encouraged by the much older, internationally famous fellow Mexican painter Diego Rivera, with whom she fell in love. Their stormy life together and apart formed the basis for many of her pictures, as well as books, plays, and films about Kahlo.

Art historian Nancy G. Heller examines Kahlo’s short life—including the reasons she loved wearing traditional Mexican clothing, accessories, and hairstyles—and her work. She looks beyond the famous self-portraits to include landscapes, still lifes, and other Kahlo subjects.

Thurs., July 27, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-271; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World

Art

History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit Art Nouveau: New Style for a New Century

Noted for its organic, sinuous, and seductive styles, the Art Nouveau movement in modern art and design—called the New Style— developed out of the arts and crafts and aesthetic movements. Centered in France at the turn of the last century, it was celebrated at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris and quickly spread to England and America. This richly illustrated seminar led by art historian Bonita Billman explores the style’s origins, identifying characteristics, and chief creators. Though it flowered for only a decade or so, Art Nouveau has had a longlasting influence and popularity.

10 a.m. Origins and Characteristics of Art Nouveau

11:30 a.m. Art Nouveau in France

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. The New Style in Britain

2:45 p.m. The New Style in America

Sat., July 29, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-272; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit Exploring the Arts of Latin America

From colossal Olmec heads to the paintings of Frida Kahlo, Aztec temples to Mexican murals, this survey of Latin American art sweeps through centuries and locations including ancient Mesoamerica, coastal Peru, and the top of the Andes. Michele Greet, the director of the art history program at George Mason University, traces the significant creators, works, influences, and trends that defined and shaped the arts of Latin America from their earliest expressions through the 19th and 20th centuries.

AUG 3 The Arts of Ancient Mesoamerica

AUG 10 The Arts of the Andes

AUG 17 The Arts of Viceregal Latin America

AUG 24 Modern Art in Latin America

4 sessions: Thurs., Aug. 3–24, 12–1:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-278; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Cave Art: Where it All Began

Forty thousand years ago, humans began to paint animals, mysterious symbols, and even people on cave walls. For over a century, researchers have been interested in how these images were created and what they might have meant. Paleolithic archaeologist April Nowell explores cave art and objects including figurines, items of personal adornment, decorated tools, and musical instruments made during the Upper Paleolithic. She examines techniques of manufacture, interpretation, and dating and highlights questions about who made this art, what we can we infer about its meanings, and what can we learn about the individuals and the communities behind their creation.

Drawing on examples from sites in Indonesia, Australia, Europe, and Siberia, Nowell looks at the science behind the art and how cutting-edge technology is leading to a new understanding of the lives of Ice-Age peoples.

Wed., Aug. 9, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-779; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Pieter

Bruegel the Elder: Humor and Humanism

The great 16th-century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder may be best remembered as one of the pioneers of genre scenes in Renaissance art. However, this master of the ordinary, especially of scenes inspired by peasant life, was steeped in the humanist culture of his era.

His wonderful inventiveness and wit are reflected throughout his oeuvre— where almost every painting becomes a point of departure for a deeper philosophical consideration. Art historian Aneta Georgievska-Shine explores various facets of Bruegel’s creativity that have secured him such a special place in our collective memory.

Fri., Aug. 11, 12–2 p.m.; CODE 1K0-388; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

The Golden Age of Vienna The Art of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele

At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna was the capital of a great empire ruled by the Hapsburgs. The city was a center of political power as well as avant-garde culture, home to some of the world’s greatest composers, architects, writers, and artists. Two who helped define this age of glamour, elegance, and decadence were artists Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.

Art critic and adviser Judy Pomeranz explores the lives and art of these extraordinary individuals and the age in which they lived. She examines how they were influenced by their time and place and illustrates how powerfully they reflected them in works both beautiful and shocking.

Wed., Aug. 16, 12-1:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-387; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit The Hudson River School Art, History, Science, and National Identity

The paintings of the Hudson River School artists define our image of early 19th-century America: romantic, light-suffused landscapes that capture the wonders of nature and the promise of an expanding nation. Works by painters such as Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Frederic Edwin Church—in addition to the less well-known Sarah Cole, Susie Barstow, and Mary Josephine Walters— synthesize the European landscape tradition with a distinctly American view of nature, science, and spirituality reflected in Thoreau and Emerson. The results range from Church’s dramatic views of Niagara Falls to Durand’s idealized landscapes bathed in a golden glow.

Art historian Heidi Applegate examines the themes that circle around the group of diverse artists assigned the Hudson River School name—one that became a disparaging term when American artistic tastes turned from landscape and genre subjects to more cosmopolitan themes influenced by European-trained painters after the Civil War. She explores why these Hudson River School artists were so popular, how they fell out of favor, and why their art has generated renewed interest.

Fri., Aug. 25, 12-1:15 p.m.; CODE 1H0-780; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

The Ganges: River and Goddess

The Ganges River Basin was the heartland of South Asian urban development in the 6th century B.C.E., and the river remains deeply important to many people in ways that are both physical and conceptual. Robert DeCaroli, a professor of art history at George Mason University, traces the Ganges from its origins in the peaks of the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, exploring historic and sacred locations along this mighty river.

The physical river, however, is only half the story. Since ancient times, the Ganges has been embodied as the goddess Ganga, and her reach stretches well beyond the riverbanks. DeCaroli examines the art and architecture used to enhance and replicate access to Ganga’s sacred waters.

Tues., Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-289; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

The Great Cathedrals and Basilicas of Italy

The churches of Italy are renowned for their artistic treasures, from Giotto’s 14th-century frescoes in Florence, Padua, and Assisi to Giacomo Manzu’s great 20th-century bronze doors for St. Peter’s in Rome. Some churches are known for a specific space or work that makes a pilgrimage a necessity, such as Masaccio’s Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. Others, such as the Florentine Santa Maria Novella or the Frari in Venice, showcase virtually the entire history of the art and culture of their respective cities.

In a splendidly illustrated seminar, art historian Sophia D’Addio of Columbia University explores churches that represent some of Italy’s greatest repositories of sacred art.

10 a.m. The Basilica of Saint Mark and the Treasures of Venice

11:30 a.m. The Gothic Dream: The Duomo of Santa Maria Assunta in Siena

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. The Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Riches of Florence

2:45 p.m. St. Peter’s and Rome, the Eternal City

Sat., Sept. 30, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-280; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Exploring the Cluny Museum in Paris

Step from the bustling sidewalks of the Left Bank in Paris into a veritable treasure house: the Cluny Museum. The remains of ancient Roman baths and the Gothic Paris residence of the abbots of Cluny provide the fairy-tale backdrop for marvels of medieval art. Barbara Drake Boehm, a curator emerita of The Met Cloisters, explores the museum, renovated and reopened last year.

The masterpieces inside include the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, sculpture from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame that was buried during the French Revolution, and a Jewish wedding ring hidden by its owner during the Black Death.

Mon., Oct. 23, 12–1:15 p.m.; CODE 1J0-287; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

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In Person

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In-person classes are taught by professional artists and teachers. View detailed class descriptions and supply lists at SmithsonianAssociates.org/studio. View portfolios of work by our instructors at SmithsonianAssociates.org/art instructors.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Popular theory holds that the right brain is primarily responsible for the intuitive understanding of visual and spatial relationships. This class improves the way people see and record objects on paper by working through a set of visual exercises that help build the ability to draw.

IN PERSON: Wed., July 12–Aug. 30, 6:30 p.m.; Shahin Talishkhan; details and supply list on website; Ripley Center; CODE 1V0-0VD; Members $235; Nonmembers $265

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Beginning Oil Painting

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Paper Frenzy

Try new techniques as you have fun creating papers for collage and other art projects. Create a glorious collection of one-of-a-kind papers accented by acrylic, inks, stamps, and other printmaking materials.

IN PERSON: Wed., Aug. 16–Sept. 6, 6 p.m.; Sharon Robinson; details and supply list on website; Ripley Center; CODE 1V0-0XM; Members $175; Nonmembers $195