Arts & Culture

Explore Harvard’s vibrant arts scene—from campus exhibitions and theater to cultural analysis and literary reviews. Discover how creativity shapes the Harvard experience.

Two bare-knuckle boxers fight in a ring, surrounded by onlookers in 19th-century attire.

England’s First Sports Megastar

A collection of illustrations capture a boxer’s triumphant moment. 

by Nell Porter-Brown

The painting “Love Potion” features two lovers craning toward each other in a boat on roiling ocean waters.

Alexander Gassel retrospective at the Museum of Russian Icons

A blend of Russian Orthodox iconography and mythical motifs

by Nell Porter-Brown

Photo of red, white, and orange Houston Astros jersey from 1983 worn by pitcher Joe Niekro

Baseball-jersey fashion

The Worcester Art Museum spotlights baseball garb.

by Nell Porter-Brown

A collage of emblematic figures in American history set against the Stars and Stripes

An intellectual history of the Cold War era

In a new book, Louis Menand probes the cultural currents of postwar America.

by Spencer Lee Lenfield

Solomon Gate in an open position.

An innovative gate for Harvard Yard

At Houghton and Lamont libraries, a creative new entry into the Yard

by Jacob Sweet

Head and torso of a man painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

A monumental book reveals a monumental work of art

Nicholas Callaway publishes the Sistine Chapel in closeup.

by Lydialyle Gibson

A detailed 1598 map of Iceland, with monstrous sea creatures in the surrounding waters and polar bears on ice flows.

How cartographers filled “empty” space with animals

The era of imaginative mapmaking

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Zoom-like grid of colorful portraits of people in pandemic-era face masks.

“This is Not a Gag,” MASS MoCA

Richard Nielsen: “This is Not a Gag,” at MASS MoCA

by Nell Porter-Brown

A photograph of the border wall stretching toward a mountain in the distance

Photographer Morgan Smith's Images and Encounters at the Mexican Border

Photographer Morgan Smith ’60 documents life on the precarious precipice between Mexico and the United States.

by Lydialyle Gibson

A photograph of art historian Cassandra Albinson next to a photograph of a portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour applying pink rouge to her cheeks

Harvard Portrait: Cassandra Albinson

A curator takes a fresh look at portraits of aristocratic European women.

by Jonathan Shaw

Ornate eighteenth-century dress with wide hooped skirt

Peabody Essex Museum fashion exhibit

Highlighting 250 years of women in fashion

by Nell Porter-Brown