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.

A woman and a horse jump off a large platform into water

The Woman Who Rode Horses Into the Water

Scrapbooking a woman who rode horses into the sea

by Max J. Krupnick

How Harvard Handled the 1918 Flu Pandemic

Fall semester interrupted, a century ago

by Matteo Wong

Photograph of Jenny Odell

Harvard Graduate School of Design Class Day speaker Jenny Odell

Artist Jenny Odell speaks at the Graduate School of Design Class Day ceremony.

by Nell Porter-Brown

Transforming Portraiture and the World

Alumnus-commissioned paintings of global luminaries are now a landmark gift to the National Portrait Gallery.

by Julia Ostmann

Margaret Mee painting of yellow trumpet tree

Rainforest flora images by Margaret Mee

Botanical bounty at Dumbarton Oaks

by John S. Rosenberg

At Home with Harvard: Night at the Museum

Our favorite stories about Harvard’s rich museums and collections

Painting of a young woman standing at a French window, looking at a verdant garden

Bruce Museum’s spring shows

Images that help unveil the truth of what we can see

by Nell Porter-Brown

Detail of a painting showing long grasses and the moon

A Sweeping Exhibit Covers 250 Years of Japanese Art

Paintings from the Edo period convey “a powerful sense of there-ness.” 

by Lydialyle Gibson

Photograph of art historian Shawon Kinew

Harvard Portrait: Shawon Kinew

Connecting European Old Masters with the new landscape of art history 

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Photograph of artist Romare Bearden standing by an easel c. 1940

Romare Bearden profiled by Robert G. O'Meally

Brief life of a textured artist: 1911-1988

by Robert G. O'Meally

A procession of women heading toward a lake

Performance artist and activist Lena Chen

Lena Chen transforms trauma into art and performance.

by Mathilde Montpetit