For many people, understanding art is a challenge because they have never learned to “read” a work of art. Like any other form of communication, a work of art makes a statement, but the language it uses is visual rather than verbal. Once you understand a bit about the language, the reading is not only simpler but infinitely more gratifying.

Using outstanding artworks from antiquity to the current scene, art historian Judy Pomeranz acquaints you with the formal principles of art and other tools needed to appreciate a work. She also addresses how a basic knowledge of the historical, art historical, political, and biographical context can add dimensions of meaning.

10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Byzantine and Renaissance Art

Artists like Giotto, Botticelli, and Leonardo addressed religion, spirituality, mythology, and humanism in their work.

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. From 17th-Century Holland to 19th-Century France

Masters including Rembrandt, Rubens, Boucher, and David created art to please the middle-class masses, the court, and the new imperial powers.

12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Lunch

Participants provide their own lunch.

1:15 to 2:15 p.m. Early Modernism: From Impressionism to Surrealism

Artists like Renoir, Monet, Picasso, and Magritte portrayed a shifting and unsettled world through new visual languages.

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Late Modern and Contemporary Art

Examine how the abstract expressionism of Pollock and De Kooning led into Lichtenstein and Warhol’s Pop, Donald Judd’s minimalism, and the new figuration embraced by such artists as Johns and Rauschenberg.

Pomeranz is an art critic and private consultant.

Certificate information is available at ResidentAssociates.org/certificate