Visual Arts

Explore exhibitions, artists, and visual works that enrich Harvard’s cultural and academic life.

Three climbers seated on a snowy summit, surrounded by clouds, appearing contemplative.

These Harvard Mountaineers Braved Denali’s Wall of Ice

John Graham’s Denali Diary documents a dangerous and historic climb.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Artist Shen Wei in his studio amid his large-scale abstract paintings

“Shen Wei: Painting in Motion”

“Shen Wei: Painting in Motion,” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

by Nell Porter-Brown

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 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

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

Painting of three pairs of worn, heavy shoes by Vincent van Gogh

The Undergraduate writes about building a more inclusive community at Harvard

Redrawing community at Harvard

by Che Applewhaite

Shelby Meyerhoff's photographic self-portrait of her head and shoulders transformed with body paints into a blue-ringed octopus

Profile of body-paint artist Shelby Meyerhoff

Shelby Meyerhoff’s liminal, liberating body painting

by Lydialyle Gibson

Ornate eighteenth-century dress with wide hooped skirt

Peabody Essex Museum fashion exhibit

Highlighting 250 years of women in fashion

by Nell Porter-Brown

Three people in 1950s New York

Robert Frank at the Addison Gallery, Andover, Massachusetts

“Robert Frank: The Americans,” at the Addison Gallery of American Art

by Nell Porter-Brown

Up Close (Virtually) with the Forbes Pigment Collection

Harvard’s world-famous collection of colors can now be enjoyed from home. 

by Marina N. Bolotnikova