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 vibrant composition of flowers, a bird, and butterflies with a distant manor under a moody sky.

Rachel Ruysch’s Lush (Still) Life

Now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, a Dutch painter’s art proved a treasure trove for scientists.

by Lydialyle Gibson

The red fist from “The 1969 Protest T-shirt” dispatch, originally designed by Harvey Hacker ’63, filled a “graphic gap” for students protesting the “Bust,” a violent eviction of occupying students from University Hall by police officers and state troopers on April 10, 1969.

Graduate School of Design exhibition celebrates 75 years of rich history

A Graduate School of Design exhibition celebrates 75 years of rich history.

A scene from Meredith James’s video <i>Day Shift </i>, starring James herself

Meredith James '04 creates videos and sculptures that challenge perceptions

Meredith James '04 creates surrealist videos and sculptures that challenge perceptions.

by Jesse Kornbluth

The <i>Invention of Book Printing</i> comes from <i>Nova Reperta</i> (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), by Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), the first such illustrated compendium of postclassical innovations (ca. 1599- 1603). The ability to print many copies of such works revolutionized communication of ideas in the sixteenth century.

Sackler exhibition reveals artistic discovery in Renaissance Europe

An exhibition at the Sackler reveals the connections among Renaissance art, invention, and the evolution of science.

by Jennifer Carling , Jonathan Shaw

Georg Brentel the Younger, from <i>Pamphlet describing the construction and function of a conical sundial,</i> Lauingen: Jacob Winter, 1615. Pamphlet with engravings and woodcuts.

Photographs of early modern printed-paper sundials

Photographs of early modern printed-paper sundials

Jan Sadeler I, after Maarten de Vos,<i> Rhetoric,</i> from the series <i>The Seven Liberal Arts,</i> after 1575. Engraving

Jan Sadeler’s engravings of The Seven Liberal Arts

Jan Sadeler’s engravings of The Seven Liberal Arts

Theodore Galle, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), <i>Discovery of America,</i> from <i>Nova reperta</i> (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving

Inventions in Early Modern Europe

Images from Stradanus’s "Nova reperta," a series of engravings representing technological innovations of the modern age from the perspective of a practicing artist

Meredith James created her 14 x 8 x 12-foot sculpture <i>Impossible House</i> with salvaged wood and windows.

Meredith James '04 creates videos and sculptures that challenge perceptions

Artist Meredith James '04 shares three videos and additional photos of her work.

<i>Lawrence School Garden</i>

David Fichter talks about mural painting

David Fichter explains his mega-paintings in this video.

The Square has always attracted those who want to shop, eat, gawk, and play.

25 years in Harvard Square

An iconic space reflects history’s recent trends.

by Nell Porter-Brown

Details from <i>Sunday Afternoon on the Charles River</i>

Muralist David Fichter

David Fichter paints outdoor murals that teem with life.