Online courses directory (23)

New to art? If so, this is a good place to start. We often think we should understand what we see and that we know what we like, but art can be challenging. It has meant different things at different moments in history. Art gives us access to the way other people have seen the world. Jump in and explore!. A Beginner's Guide to the History of Western Culture. Common Questions about Dates. Why Look at Art?. The Skill of Describing. The Skill of Describing. The Classical Orders. How One-Point Linear Perspective Works. Art History Basics. Woodcuts and Etchings. Tempera Paint. Oil Paint. Oil Paint in Venice. Bronze Casting. Quarrying & Carving Marble. Art History - Media. A Beginner's Guide to the History of Western Culture. Common Questions about Dates. Why Look at Art?. The Skill of Describing. The Skill of Describing. The Classical Orders. How One-Point Linear Perspective Works. Art History Basics. Woodcuts and Etchings. Tempera Paint. Oil Paint. Oil Paint in Venice. Bronze Casting. Quarrying & Carving Marble. Art History - Media.

Augustus of Primaporta. Painted Garden, Villa of Livia. Head of Augustus. Sculpture from the Parthenon's East Pediment. Victory Stele of Naram-Sin. Ancient Greek Temples at Paestum, Italy. Dying Gaul. Ara Pacis. The Standard of Ur. Dionysiac frieze, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii. East and West Pediments, Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. Colosseum. Myron, Discobolus (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of an ancient Greek bronze from c. 450 B.C.E.. Nike of Samothrace. Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi . The Pergamon Altar. Arch of Titus. Great Lyre from the "King's Grave" at Ur. Hadrian's Villa: A Virtual Tour. Parthenon Frieze. Maritime Theatre at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli. Neo-Assyrian Art: Human Headed Winged Lion and Bull (Lamassu). The Parthenon: Metopes. Pair of Centaurs Fighting Cats of Prey from Hadrian's Villa. Mixing Vessel with Odysseus Escaping from the Cyclops' Cave. Erechtheion: Caryatid and Column. Column of Trajan. Ishtar Gate and Processional Way . Medea Sarcophagus, 140 - 150 C.E.. Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus. After Praxiteles, Venus (Roman Copy). Apollonius, Boxer at Rest, c. 100 B.C.E.. Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf). Seated Scribe. Arch of Constantine. Digging Through Time. Thutmose's Bust of Nefertiti. House Altar with Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three Daughters. Ramesses II. Alexander Mosaic. The Colossus of Constantine. Rosetta Stone. Hellenistic Art at the Metropolitan: Eros Sleeping and An Old Market Woman. Bodhisattva from China. Geometric Greek Krater. Exekias, Attic black figure amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a game. Buddha of Medicine Bhaishajyaguru (Yaoshi fo). Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer). Barberini Faun, c. 220 B.C.E.. New York Kouros. Japan, Muromachi to Momoyama period Negoro ware ewer. Ancient Rome. Temple of Portunus. The Pantheon, Rome.

Birth of the Gothic: Abbot Suger and the Ambulatory at St. Denis. Two Royal Figures (Saljuq Period). Last Judgment Tympanum, Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun. Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. Virgin from Ger. Wise and Foolish Virgins, Sant Quirze de Pedret. Coronation Mantle. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. Basilica of Santa Prassede (Praxedes). Santa Sabina. Byzantine Art: Justinian and His Attendants. Historiated Capitals, Church of Sant Miquel, Camarasa (Noguera). Santa Maria Maggiore. Ivory panel with Archangel. Berlinghieri's St. Francis Altarpiece. Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres. Ilkhanid Mihrab. Hebrew Astrolabe. Pre-Columbian Cup.

This is a transitional period. In the art of Florence and Siena there is a move away from medieval abstract depictions of space and the human body as artists began to focus on the illusion of mass and space and the expression of human emotion. With hindsight, it is possible to trace elements of Renaissance art back to this period. This century saw the creation of the beautiful poetry of Dante and Petrarch, but it is also the century that saw the worst outbreak of the Bubonic plague (known then as the Black Death) which wiped out close to half the population of Europe

This is the century that sees the full realization of the Renaissance and the end of the medieval way of thinking about the world. The Humanist rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture is supported by the wealth accumulated in prosperous cities such as Bruges, Florence, and Venice. New wealth and increasing trade created a demand for an art based on the world we see. The second half of the century saw the invention of the printing press, and Columbus

If there was one century in the past that saw radical changes in established ways of thinking comparable to the 20th Century, it would be the 16th. Before this, in Western Europe, there was only one type of Christianity

The 17th Century is the era of the Baroque style, characterized by energy, drama, and movement. The Church in Rome needed art that spoke to its resurgent power even as the conflict between Protestant and Catholics continued. A new realism

From the frivolous paintings of Fragonard to the politically-charged moralizing images of David, this tutorial brings us from the King of France and his court

With the failure of the French Revolution (Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, and after his defeat, a King was restored to power in France), there was a turn away from public, political life, toward personal, subjective experience. In large part, this turn characterizes the new style of Romanticism (don

The art of this period is familiar, since the world of the Realists, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists is much like our own. More and more people lived in cities and worked in factories or shops for wages. Scientific and technological advances increased dramatically during this period and although there was dislocation and privation, standards of living increased sharply. In essence, modern mass culture was born. Artists responded sometimes by embracing these radical changes, and at other times by resisting them. Key here is understanding the authority of the various art academies in Europe, which controlled matters related to taste and art, and which were, to some extent, always connected to the government. A small number of artists rebelled against the strictures of the academy, and against the demand for art to tell clear stories for a middle class audience, and formed what we know as the

An Introduction to Contemporary Art. Why is this Art? Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans. Art as Concept: In Advance of the Broken Arm. Why Is That Important? Looking at Jackson Pollock. Art & Context: Monet's Cliff Walk at Pourville and Malevich's White on White. Representation & Abstraction: Millais's Ophelia and Newman's Vir Heroicus Sublimis. Interpreting Contemporary Art. Big Questions in Modern & Contemporary Art. Matisse, Luxe, calme et volupt

The Art of Our Time. Bacon, Triptych - August 1972. Freud, Standing by the Rags. Diane Arbus, Boy with a Toy Hand Grenade. William Eggleston, Red Ceiling, or Greenwood, Mississippi, 1973. Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz Useful Art #5: The Western Hotel, 1992. Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe. Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans. Oldenburg, Floor Cake. Lichtenstein, Rouen Cathedral Set V. Gerhard Richter, Betty. Gerhard Richter, The Cage Paintings (1-6). Gerhard Richter, September. Donald Judd, Untitled. Dan Flavin, Untitled (To Donna) II. Smithson, Spiral Jetty. Hesse, Untitled. Hesse, Untitled (Rope Piece), 1970. Chicago, Pasadena Lifesaver, Blue Series, No. 4 & Benglis, Omega. Winsor, #1 Rope. Joseph Beuys, Table with Accumulator. John Baldessari, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. Hans Haacke's Seurat's 'Les Poseuses' (small version). Interpreting Contemporary Art. Colescott, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21. Sherrie Levine, Untitled (After Edward Weston, ca. 1925). The Art of Our Time. Bacon, Triptych - August 1972. Freud, Standing by the Rags. Diane Arbus, Boy with a Toy Hand Grenade. William Eggleston, Red Ceiling, or Greenwood, Mississippi, 1973. Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz Useful Art #5: The Western Hotel, 1992. Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe. Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans. Oldenburg, Floor Cake. Lichtenstein, Rouen Cathedral Set V. Gerhard Richter, Betty. Gerhard Richter, The Cage Paintings (1-6). Gerhard Richter, September. Donald Judd, Untitled. Dan Flavin, Untitled (To Donna) II. Smithson, Spiral Jetty. Hesse, Untitled. Hesse, Untitled (Rope Piece), 1970. Chicago, Pasadena Lifesaver, Blue Series, No. 4 & Benglis, Omega. Winsor, #1 Rope. Joseph Beuys, Table with Accumulator. John Baldessari, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. Hans Haacke's Seurat's 'Les Poseuses' (small version). Interpreting Contemporary Art. Colescott, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21. Sherrie Levine, Untitled (After Edward Weston, ca. 1925).

Taxonomy and the Tree of Life. Species. Bacteria. Viruses. Human Prehistory 101: Prologue. Human Prehistory 101 Part 1: Out of (Eastern) Africa. Human Prehistory 101 Part 2: Weathering The Storm. Human Prehistory 101 Part 3: Agriculture Rocks Our World. Human Prehistory 101: Epilogue. Taxonomy and the Tree of Life. Species. Bacteria. Viruses. Human Prehistory 101: Prologue. Human Prehistory 101 Part 1: Out of (Eastern) Africa. Human Prehistory 101 Part 2: Weathering The Storm. Human Prehistory 101 Part 3: Agriculture Rocks Our World. Human Prehistory 101: Epilogue.

US History Overview 1: Jamestown to the Civil War. US History Overview 2: Reconstruction to the Great Depression. US History Overview 3: WWII to Vietnam. Appomattox Court House and Lincoln's Assassination. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great. 20th Century Capitalism and Regulation in the United States. US History Overview 1: Jamestown to the Civil War. US History Overview 2: Reconstruction to the Great Depression. US History Overview 3: WWII to Vietnam. Appomattox Court House and Lincoln's Assassination. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great. 20th Century Capitalism and Regulation in the United States.

Sumerian Art: Standard of Ur. Ptolemaic: Rosetta Stone. Ancient Rome. Ara Pacis. Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. Charlemagne: An Introduction (1 of 2). Charlemagne and the Carolingian Revival (part 2 of 2). Coronation Mantle. Sumerian Art: Standard of Ur. Ptolemaic: Rosetta Stone. Ancient Rome. Ara Pacis. Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. Charlemagne: An Introduction (1 of 2). Charlemagne and the Carolingian Revival (part 2 of 2). Coronation Mantle.

You cannot properly understand current world events without understanding the history of the 20th Century. This topic takes us on a journey from the end of Imperialism through two world wars and the Cold War and brings us to our modern world. Empires before World War I. German and Italian Empires in 1914. Alliances leading to World War I. Language and religion of the former Yugoslavia. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip. The Great War begins. Causes of World War I. Blockades, u-boats and sinking of the Lusitania. Zimmermann Telegram. United States enters World War I. Wilson's war message to Congress -- April 2, 1917. 1917 speech by Senator George Norris in opposition to American entry. WWI Blockades and America. Schlieffen Plan and the First Battle of the Marne. Comparing the Eastern and Western Fronts in WWI. World War I Eastern Front. Battles of Verdun, Somme and the Hindenburg Line. Closing stages of World War I. Technology in World War I. Eastern and Western Fronts of World War I. Serbian and Macedonian Fronts. Serbian losses in World War I. Italy backs out of Triple Alliance. Italian front in World War I. Japan in World War I. Secondary fronts of WWI. Theodor Herzl and the birth of political Zionism. Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia Campaigns. Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. Arabia after World War I. The Middle East during and after WWI. Gallipoli Campaign and ANZAC Day. Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia Campaigns. Armenian massacres before World War I. Young Turks and the Armenians. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Turkish War for Independence. Ottoman Empire and birth of Turkey . Deaths in World War I. Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles. More detail on the Treaty of Versailles and Germany. Arabia after World War I. WWI Aftermath. World War I. Initial rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler and the Nazis come to power. Night of the Long Knives. Nazi Aggression and Appeasement. Rise of Hitler. Fascism and Mussolini. Mussolini becomes Prime Minister. Mussolini becomes absolute dictator (Il Duce). Mussolini aligns with Hitler. Fascism and Mussolini. Overview of Chinese History 1911 - 1949. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions. Empires before World War I. German and Italian Empires in 1914. Alliances leading to World War I. Language and religion of the former Yugoslavia. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip. The Great War begins. Causes of World War I. Blockades, u-boats and sinking of the Lusitania. Zimmermann Telegram. United States enters World War I. Wilson's war message to Congress -- April 2, 1917. 1917 speech by Senator George Norris in opposition to American entry. WWI Blockades and America. Schlieffen Plan and the First Battle of the Marne. Comparing the Eastern and Western Fronts in WWI. World War I Eastern Front. Battles of Verdun, Somme and the Hindenburg Line. Closing stages of World War I. Technology in World War I. Eastern and Western Fronts of World War I. Serbian and Macedonian Fronts. Serbian losses in World War I. Italy backs out of Triple Alliance. Italian front in World War I. Japan in World War I. Secondary fronts of WWI. Theodor Herzl and the birth of political Zionism. Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia Campaigns. Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. Arabia after World War I. The Middle East during and after WWI. Gallipoli Campaign and ANZAC Day. Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia Campaigns. Armenian massacres before World War I. Young Turks and the Armenians. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Turkish War for Independence. Ottoman Empire and birth of Turkey . Deaths in World War I. Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles. More detail on the Treaty of Versailles and Germany. Arabia after World War I. WWI Aftermath. World War I. Initial rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler and the Nazis come to power. Night of the Long Knives. Nazi Aggression and Appeasement. Rise of Hitler. Fascism and Mussolini. Mussolini becomes Prime Minister. Mussolini becomes absolute dictator (Il Duce). Mussolini aligns with Hitler. Fascism and Mussolini. Overview of Chinese History 1911 - 1949. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions.

Videos attempting to grasp a little bit about our Universe (many of the topics associated with "Big History"). Scale of Earth and Sun. Scale of Solar System. Scale of Distance to Closest Stars. Scale of the Galaxy. Intergalactic Scale. Hubble Image of Galaxies. Big Bang Introduction. Radius of Observable Universe. (Correction) Radius of Observable Universe. Red Shift. Cosmic Background Radiation. Cosmic Background Radiation 2. Cosmological Time Scale 1. Cosmological Time Scale 2. Four Fundamental Forces. Birth of Stars. Becoming a Red Giant. White and Black Dwarfs. A Universe Smaller than the Observable. Star Field and Nebula Images. Parallax in Observing Stars. Stellar Parallax. Stellar Distance Using Parallax. Stellar Parallax Clarification. Parsec Definition. Hubble's Law. Lifecycle of Massive Stars. Supernova (Supernovae). Supernova clarification. Black Holes. Cepheid Variables 1. Why Cepheids Pulsate. Why Gravity Gets So Strong Near Dense Objects. Supermassive Black Holes. Quasars. Quasar Correction. Galactic Collisions. Earth Formation. Beginnings of Life. Ozone Layer and Eukaryotes Show Up in the Proterozoic Eon. Biodiversity Flourishes in Phanerozoic Eon. First living things on land clarification. Plate Tectonics-- Difference between crust and lithosphere. Structure of the Earth. Plate Tectonics -- Evidence of plate movement. Plate Tectonics -- Geological Features of Divergent Plate Boundaries. Plate Tectonics-- Geological features of Convergent Plate Boundaries. Plates Moving Due to Convection in Mantle. Hawaiian Islands Formation. Compositional and Mechanical Layers of the Earth. Seismic Waves. Why S-Waves Only Travel in Solids. Refraction of Seismic Waves. The Mohorovicic Seismic Discontinuity. How we know about the Earth's core. Pangaea. Scale of the Large. Scale of the Small. Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 1. Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 2. Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 3. Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 4. Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 5. Human Evolution Overview. Understanding Calendar Notation. Correction Calendar Notation. Development of Agriculture and Writing. Introduction to Light. Seasons Aren't Dictated by Closeness to Sun. How Earth's Tilt Causes Seasons. Milankovitch Cycles Precession and Obliquity. Are Southern Hemisphere Seasons More Severe?. Precession Causing Perihelion to Happen Later. What Causes Precession and Other Orbital Changes. Apsidal Precession (Perihelion Precession) and Milankovitch Cycles. Firestick Farming. Carbon 14 Dating 1. Carbon 14 Dating 2. Potassium-Argon (K-Ar) Dating. K-Ar Dating Calculation. Chronometric Revolution. Collective Learning. Land Productivity Limiting Human Population. Energy Inputs for Tilling a Hectare of Land. Random Predictions for 2060.

Videos to help understand the bailout. Bailout 1: Liquidity vs. Solvency. Bailout 2: Book Value. Bailout 3: Book value vs. market value. Bailout 4: Mark-to-model vs. mark-to-market. Bailout 5: Paying off the debt. Bailout 6: Getting an equity infusion. Bailout 7: Bank goes into bankruptcy. Bailout 8: Systemic Risk. Bailout 9: Paulson's Plan. Bailout 10: Moral Hazard. Bailout 11: Why these CDOs could be worth nothing. Bailout 12: Lone Star Transaction. Bailout 13: Does the bailout have a chance of working?. Bailout 14: Possible Solution. Bailout 15: More on the solution.

Were the Middle Ages really all that dark? Hardly! How could we call the period that saw the building of Chartres Cathedral with its stunning stained-glass windows, dark? Sure, the Roman empire collapsed, but with the Christianization of Europe came magnificent churches, illuminated bibles, and intricately designed broaches. This period also saw the birth of Islam, the third great monotheistic religion. Introduction. Medieval and Byzantine Art. A New Pictorial Language: The Image in Early Medieval Art. Iconoclasm. Medieval Manuscripts. The Bestiary. Beginner's Guide to Medieval Art. An Introduction to Christianity. Standard Scenes from the Life of Christ in Art. An Introduction to Early Christian Art. Early Christian Art & Architecture after Constantine. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. Santa Sabina. Santa Maria Maggiore. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. Early Christian. Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. The Lindesfarne Gospels. Medieval and Byzantine Art. San Vitale. Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, c. 533-49. Hagia Sophia. Ivory panel with Archangel. Icon of Saint George (the "Black George"). Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Byzantine Art. Introduction to Islam. The Five Pillars of Islam. Arts of the Islamic World. Two Royal Figures (Saljuq Period). Coronation Mantle. Ilkhanid Mihrab. Hebrew Astrolabe. Qa'a: The Damascus Room. Carolingian Art: An Introduction. Charlemagne: An Introduction (1 of 2). Charlemagne and the Carolingian Revival (part 2 of 2). Saint Matthew from the Ebbo Gospel. Lindau Gospels Cover. Santa Prassede (Praxedes). Carolingian. Ottonian Art: An Introduction. Bronze doors, Saint Michael's, Hildesheim, commissioned by Bishop Bernward, 1015. Pilgrimage Routes and the Cult of the Relic. Pentecost and Mission to the Apostles Tympanum, V

Are you paying attention?. Observation: Are you paying attention. Field observations with fresh eyes. Recognizing opportunity in the rain. Challenge: Observation lab. Challenge: Paying attention. Spark a revolution. Reframing problems. Using old things in new ways. The five dollar challenge. Reframing challenge. Reframing reflections. Bring in the bees. Good artists copy, great artists steal. Connect and combine. Combine and share. Connect and combine challenge. Connect and combine reflection. Are you paying attention?. Observation: Are you paying attention. Field observations with fresh eyes. Recognizing opportunity in the rain. Challenge: Observation lab. Challenge: Paying attention. Spark a revolution. Reframing problems. Using old things in new ways. The five dollar challenge. Reframing challenge. Reframing reflections. Bring in the bees. Good artists copy, great artists steal. Connect and combine. Combine and share. Connect and combine challenge. Connect and combine reflection.