Spring semester starts in ten days! While we still have a week to enjoy the break it’s never too early to begin making plans for Spring Break (March 21-25) or even summer. Interested in traveling abroad this summer? Take a look at our study abroad program to Barcelona. You’ll study the history of pre-modern art in Spain and learn to make artworks on the fly with Professors Jessica Weiss (art history) and Michael Bernhardt (studio art). Travel to Montserrat, the Prado, the Dali Museum, the city of Toledo, and more while earning six credits towards your degree! This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience not to be missed.
If your budget or schedule doesn’t allow for a four week program consider taking in one or more of the amazing art collections in your own backyard. Of course, we know that Denver has some top-tier art collections (including one of the foremost collections of Spanish colonial art in the world, as well as one of the country’s premier collections of Native American art). You can stay local or take a short plane ride to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or even Detroit to see some of the most famous works in the history of art. While many students think they have to travel to Europe to see their favorite artists, in fact many of the works we study in our art history classes reside state-side in the museums of our own country. Want to see Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night or Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon? You’ll have to head to the MOMA in New York. What about Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grand Jatte or Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s At the Moulin Rouge? Both are at the Art Institute of Chicago. You don’t have to go to Mexico City to see some of Diego Rivera’s most amazing mural work, just head to the Detroit Institute of the Arts. San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is one of the largest collections of Asian art in the world.
While traveling don’t overlook some of the smaller, yet stellar collections in major cities, such as the Hammer Museum and the Fowler Museum, both in Los Angeles, or the Frick Collection in New York. Smaller cities may also boast fantastic speciality collections. For world-class art from the native cultures of the Northwest Coast look no further than Seattle, while the High Museum in Atlanta Georgia has an extensive collection of African art objects.
If travel is not an option you might be surprised to learn that Google Street View will allow you to virtually tour many of the world’s most famous archaeological sites from the comfort of your favorite armchair. Explore the ancient ruins of Petra, the pyramids of Giza, or the peaks of Machu Picchu. While a virtual tour may not replace the sights, sounds, and smells accompanied with actually traveling to these places, it will allow you to better place architecture and monuments in their spatial contexts. You can also check out the recently posted video tour of Petra, narrated by Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan here:
Whether you are Barcelona-bound or touring sites and collections from home, consider writing about your experience for the “student” section of our blog. Send submissions to Professors Armstrong, Trentin, Weiss, or Mollenhauer and we’ll happily share them here for your fellow art history students. Bon voyage!
A New Perspective 