The Center

The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts is the National Gallery’s research institute. We foster the study of the production, use, and cultural meaning of art, artifacts, architecture, urbanism, photography, and film from all places and periods.

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A female torso from the neck to the shoulders and knees is carved from white marble in this freestanding sculpture. The body is square toward us in this photograph. The neck is jagged where the head has broken off, and the arms are missing below the shoulders. The leg on our right is broken off above the knee and the other below the knee. Firm, round breasts are above a soft belly and smooth groin. Some areas of the surface are smooth and others are rough, and the marble has darkened to tan in places. The sculpture is supported by a metal rod on our right, and the work rests on a square base. The wall behind is light gray.

On Beauty and the Divine in Ancient Greece

A castle-like compound surrounded by trees with mountains in the background.

Dawn over the Alhambra, c. 2014, Creative Commons License

Dawn over the Alhambra, c. 2014, Creative Commons License

Black, White, and All the Reds In Between

A light-skinned man, woman, boy, and girl, and a brown-skinned man sit and stand around a table spread with papers and a map in this horizontal portrait. The light-skinned man sits on a red upholstered chair at the table to our left, and his body faces our right in profile. His legs are crossed, and he rests his right elbow, closer to us, on the back of the chair. He has a sloping, rounded nose, dark eyes, jowls along his jawline, and his closed mouth juts forward. His left arm rests on an open pamphlet on the table next to a sword with a delicate silver hilt. To our left, the young boy stands also looks to our right in profile, next to the older man's chair. The boy wears a dusky rose-pink suit with a white lacy collar. With his right hand, he pulls back a dark green cloth covering a globe on a wooden stand along the left edge of the canvas. The woman sits at the right side of the table, across from the man. She has dark eyes, full cheeks, a double chin, and her pale lips are closed. She wears a voluminous ivory satin gown and petticoat with a black lace shawl, and an ivory cap with a satin bow covers her gray hair. She points to a spot on a map on the table with a closed fan held in her right hand. The young girl, wearing a gauzy white dress with a pine-green sash at the waist, stands on the far side of the table near the woman, holding the curling edges of the map. Behind the women, the brown-skinned man wears a rust-orange and gray uniform, and stands with one hand tucked into his vest in the shadows at the edge of the composition. His features are indistinct but he faces our left in profile. The room has a gold-and-yellow checkerboard floor, and a red cloth drapes from columns frame the scene to each side. It is unclear whether a river view at the back of the room is seen through an open window or door, or if it is a large painting behind the people.

The 74th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts by Mabel O. Wilson

Updating Art History: Women in the Artists’ Academy in Rome

Visiting Senior and Postdoctoral Fellows

Fellowships

Fellows are at the heart of our residential community, joining appointed professors, postdoctoral research associates, undergraduate interns, and staff to create a thriving group of approximately 50 people. 

Our Fellowships

The Center awards fellowships to scholars across various career levels, from predoctoral students to senior professionals. We host around 20 fellows at any given time at the National Gallery of Art and support predoctoral fellows conducting research around the world.


We’re currently not accepting applications. Learn about qualifications and how to apply in anticipation of our next cycle beginning summer 2025.

Current Fellows

See our current community of international scholars, comprised of approximately 20 fellows in residence at any given time.

Former Fellows

We have over 1,200 alumni across the world. Explore our former fellows and read reports on their research.

Annual Reports

Our annual report records the activities and research conducted at the Center during each academic year.

Programs

The Center organizes scholarly meetings that embrace multiple ways of engaging in art’s histories, encompassing all media, time periods, and geographies.

Our Programs

Programs range in size and duration from lectures and panel discussions to multiday gatherings. Held primarily at the National Gallery of Art, many of our programs are also live streamed and recorded.

Lecture Series :  A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Inaugurated in 1949, the Mellon Lectures is the longest-running lecture series at the National Gallery of Art and is organized by the Center.

Videos :  Program Recordings

Watch recordings of Center programs, including annual lecture series and symposia inspired by National Gallery exhibitions.

Research Talks :  Fellows’ Presentations

During their residencies, fellows are invited to present talks on their research. These in-depth presentations are followed by discussions with the Center community and attendees.

Publications

Our publications seek to deepen our knowledge of the artistic past, present, and future, transforming our understanding of art’s role in the world.

Recent volumes

See all Center publications

Publication:  Black Modernisms in the Translatlantic World

Ten leading scholars broaden our understandings of modernism by centering Black artists and experiences with beautifully illustrated essays.

Publication:  Contact: Art and the Pull of Print

A leading art historian presents a new grammar for understanding the meaning and significance of print.

Publication:  The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s

A vivid historical imagining of life in the early United States.

Publication:  Beauty Born of Struggle: The Art of Black Washington

This book examines the legacy of influential Black artists in the nation’s capital as well as the key institutions and communities that contributed to the Washington Black Renaissance.

Publication:  Boundary Trouble in American Vanguard Art, 1920–2020

A profound examination of the complex constructs that have kept “outsider” and self-taught artists on the margins of the mainstream.

Publication:  Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

Based on her 2011 Mellon Lectures held at the National Gallery of Art, Mary Beard tells the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years.

Research

We support a variety of research initiatives designed to contribute to scholarly communities around the globe.

Current Project :  The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635

Available in English and Italian, this online feature—a collaborative project with the Archivio di Stato di Roma and the Accademia di San Luca—presents archival resources and essays focused on the Roman Accademia di San Luca.

Digital Resource :  History of Early American Landscape Design

With thousands of texts and citations and around 1,700 images, the History of Early American Landscape Design (HEALD) is an inquiry into the language of early American landscape aesthetics and garden design.

In Progress :  Research Initiatives

Learn about all current initiatives, from catalyzing research on the National Gallery’s Index of American Design collection to the intertwined histories of art and creative therapies.