Dennis Raverty

Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Expiatory Temple is the crowning jewel in the modern city of Barcelona. The church was left incomplete at the architect's death in 1928, but work was continued by others over the decades and the basilica finally opened to the public only in 2017. The elaborate sculptural program on the east facade depicts narratives surrounding the birth, childhood and adolescence of Jesus and were executed under the direct supervision of the artist; these will be the main focus of the talk. During the 1930s Spanish Civil War however, anarchists fleeing the fascists destroyed all the drawings and models remaining in Gaudi's studio, making completion after the war challenging. This presentation will also examine the controversial work since 1945, including the expressionistic west facade and the breathtaking, light-filled interior.

The Greek painter and writer Photios Kontoglou, in addition to his secular art, was also the instigator of an unprecedented revival of traditional Christian icon painting that swept through the Eastern Orthodox world over the course of the last seventy-five years. It is no exaggeration to say that what he started amounts to a veritable renaissance in the art of icon painting, from small panels to monumental frescoes. The revival of the older style in the work of Kontoglou was accompanied by a revitalization of an older theoretical understanding of its function as well, which in this case, because it is religious and liturgical art, is essentially theological and sacramental.

Surrealism originally arose as a reaction to the First World War, which was seen as a nervous breakdown on a societal level. The solution was to make a deep dive into the unconscious mind to uncover the dynamic sources of human aggression. Using the new psychology of Sigmund Freud, they illuminated a strange world of dreams and forbidden desires. In the words of Salvador Dali, the Surrealists intended to make "hand-painted dream photographs." The Philadelphia Museum celebrates the anniversary of this important and influential movement with an exhibition that opens in November, 2025.

Raphael is sometimes said to have combined the grace of Leonardo with the power of Michelangelo into a new synthesis, thus bringing the High Renaissance in Italy to its zenith. From his untimely death on Good Friday at the age of 36 through the middle of the 19th century, he was considered to be the greatest artist of the Renaissance. However, with the advent of modern art in the late 19th century, Raphael was regarded as the least original of the triumvirate and as a result his work is not as well known. A major retrospective of the artist's work will be at the Metropolitan Museum from March through June, 2026.