Art Appreciation   

“All art is propaganda,” Diego Rivera famously pronounced. In this presentation, we will look at how art has been used to inspire people in bringing about social change and upending oppressive power structures. Our investigation will span from the call for liberté, egalité et fraterité in the French Revolution with artists such as David, Gros, and Delacroix, to the anti-war and anti-authoritarian messages of Goya, Picasso, and Kollewitz, to the socialist aspirations of the Mexican painters, Rivera, Kahlo, Orozco, and Sequeiros, and finally to some recent artists such as Barbara Kruger, David Wojnarovicz, Kehinde Wiley, and Ai Weiwei. By the end of the evening, maybe we will all be inspired to make a better world.

Johannes Vermeer, the 17th century Dutch artist, has given us mesmerizing and enigmatic paintings. Yet, several paintings attributed to him are problematic to say the least, even though they all have the right provenance. Some look like an amateur’s work, others are emotionally powerful while technically inferior. We will explore the enduring mysteries, including the theory that Vermeer’s daughter became his apprentice.

Held 100 years to the day after his death, this lecture commemorates Antoni Gaudí’s enduring legacy and explores his most ambitious architectural undertaking in extreme detail. Still unfinished after 143 years, the wondrous cathedral of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona recently became the tallest church in the world. Full of surprises at every turn, it awes with innovative engineering and wildly creative design. Its architect, Antonius Gaudí, became an international icon with a cult-like following, his many buildings in and around Barcelona defining the city’s unique character. We will explore his extraordinary achievements in depth, uncovering the ideas, innovations, and symbolism that make La Sagrada Familia unlike any other building in the world.