Discover how an intimate and reflective relationship with nature can shape artistic vision.
Meander through visions of the outdoors to discover how landscapes offered 19th-century European artists freedom, renewal, and rediscovery beyond the pressures of society. Placing the natural world at the center of artistic expression and featuring drawings by J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, among many others, On Location: Drawing the Outdoors includes approximately 140 sketches, watercolors, and pastels in a showcase of creativity devoted to and inspired by nature.
Organized into 10 thematic sections, the exhibition unfolds like a series of trails through the landscape, tracing changing perceptions, the rise of environmentalism, and shifting national and artistic identities. Along the way, it introduces the techniques, formats, and functions of outdoor drawings and watercolors, showing how artists employed them to interpret the countryside and portray sites of natural beauty. On Location: Drawing the Outdoors offers visitors a space to reflect on how the experiences and motivations of 19th-century artists still resonate today.
An accompanying exhibition catalogue provides an expansive look at the topic through 5 panoramic essays and 10 focused thematic introductions, by contributors with a range of interests and perspectives.
Curated by Joachim Homann, Maida and George Abrams Curator of Drawings, with Meghan Grady, Curatorial Assistant for Special Exhibitions and Publications, Division of European and American Art, and Susanne Bartels, Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Curatorial Fellow (2024–26). Contributors include Penley Knipe, Philip and Lynn Straus Senior Conservator of Works of Art on Paper and Head of the Paper Lab; Miriam Stewart, Curator of the Collection, Division of European and American Art; and current and former Harvard graduate student interns and Ph.D. candidates: Kacper Kolęda, Byron Otis, Sarah C. Rosenthal (Ph.D. 2026), and Erik Zou.
Funding for the exhibition and related programming was provided by the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Support Fund, the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Support Fund for the Study of Dutch Drawing, the Melvin R. Seiden and Janine Luke Fund for Publications and Exhibitions, and the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. The catalogue was made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Publication Funds, including the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund. Additional project support was provided by the Almathea Charitable Foundation.
Vincent van Gogh, “The Blue Cart”, 1888. Graphite, black chalk, oil pastel(?), brown ink, and transparent and opaque watercolor on tan laid paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.279.
