Paul Mellon Centre public lectures

The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is an educational charity committed to promoting original, world-class research into the history of British art and architecture of all periods. We collaborate closely with the Yale Center for British Art, and are part of Yale University.

Their public lectures are free, varied, and informative.

What is the Laughing Cavalier not wearing? The great British art quiz

London’s Wallace Collection set this quiz, which enables you to explore the art of museums and galleries in the UK closed due to the pandemic – while answering some fiendish questions

Watch: Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs

Feeling nostalgic? Explore an exhibition from the past. Join historian Jacky Klein on a tour of Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, Tate Modern’s notable 2014 blockbuster, and lose yourself in Matisse’s colourful late-period creations.  

Free Virtual Tours at 2,500 World-Famous Museums

Google Arts & Culture teamed up with over 2500 museums and galleries around the world to bring anyone and everyone virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums around the world

10 scenes from the artist’s window

Christies explores how great artists of the past communicated their feelings about the world beyond their windows — and, on occasion, their sense of detachment from it

Heni Talks

HENI Talks is a response to the call for more access for audiences to the riches of art and culture, using the power of digital communications.

There is beauty in Empty streets

These images reveal a stark beauty and show what the city looks like without people

Street art & Corona

Covid-19 is the subject of topical, colourful and attention-grabbing street art, whether it is for artistic, educational or political ends.

Saint Corona

patron saint of resisting epidemics

Between Art & Quarantine

Dutch Instagram account Between Art & Quarantine, has been asking people to choose three aspects of their favourite works to recreate using anything they’ve got at home

Quiz: the great women artists

Women artists had to fight to be accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts, but women artists now head the institution, fill its ranks of Academicians and lead its exhibition programme. Test your knowledge in this quiz by Katy Hessel, art historian and host of The Great Women Artists podcast!

Watch: Manet – Portraying Life from 2013 

Originally released in cinemas, this ‘Exhibition on Screen’ film takes you back in time to visit the Royal Academy’s 2013 ‘Manet: Portraying Life’ exhibition, one of our most visited shows of all time. Take a trip to 19th-century Paris where the story of this modern master unfolds – and peep behind the scenes at the RA, as the curators prepared to tell his story in this major show.

Sin Like It’s the 16th Century in a Game that Remixes Renaissance Art

Forgive me, for I  have sinned, I  peeped at a lady's ankles through an open window and carved an idol in my own image. Luckily it was all in the game Four Last Things, although for my poor character the judgment was harsh and appropriately Boschian! 

ART AS THERAPY

Alain de Botton is a renowned philosopher and author, who co-wrote the book Art as Therapy with art historian John Armstrong. He is also the founder of The School of Life, a global organisation that helps people weather crises and cope with emotional challenges – and that publishes a range of books and offers online courses and psychotherapy.

Van Eyck from Home

Tourism Flanders filmed a guided tour of the exhibition for the series “The Stay At Home Museum”. Till-Holger Borchert, Director Museums Bruges and one of the curators of “Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution”, takes you through the galleries. He reflects on some of the works by the Flemish Master, which are now exceptionally collected in one place.

Tour the RA exhibition:

Picasso & Paper

Immerse yourself in Picasso’s world of paper and discover how – with this everyday material we know so well – he found the means to explore the furthest reaches of his creativity.

Curator led talks: the British Museum

Available on Apple Music 

and Google Play, the British Museum world-leading curators have recorded introductions to 64 galleries so you can go on an adventure taking in anything from Iranian gold to Chinese jade.

Strangely Haunting

Made by Austrian artist Martin Schinwald in 2016 are a series of paintings strangely accurate for today's times... They focus on metamorphosis and dysfunction

Strange Art Works

Doing research for our lectures, we come across some peculiar works of art... This is how a collection was born. Please have a look (it is constantly updated) and let us know if you come across any strange ones yourself!