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This two day event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

In the academic year 1874-75 the Harvard University Course catalogue offered, for the first time, a series of electives in the History of Art. These included two classes: the History of the Fine Arts and Their Relation to Literature, lecture taught by Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908); and Principles of Design, a studio class taught by Charles Herbert Moore (1840-1930). The program brought together the critical and the creative in a project modeled under the conviction that “seeing” can and needs to be educated, or in other words, that learning to look is the most fundamental task of the discipline of art history. 

This founding 150 years ago stands as a milestone in the beginnings of art history.

To mark this historic milestone, the conference “The Education of the Eyes: 150 Years of Art History at Harvard” was held in Cambridge, MA, November 7-8, 2025.

Held in person, this conference was co-hosted by the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Harvard Art Museums.

Click here for the conference program.