The Environment Forum with Michael Lobel | Van Gogh and the End of Nature
Date and Time
Location
THE ENVIRONMENT FORUM
Speaker: Michael Lobel, Hunter College
Moderator: Robin Kelsey, Harvard University
About the Event
Vincent van Gogh has become indelibly identified with depictions of the natural world, from the variegated colorations of flowers, trees and other types of vegetation to the manifold forms of the terrain. Yet nature—both as concept and experience—was being profoundly reshaped in Van Gogh’s time, particularly through the intense and widespread impact of industrialization. This lecture reconsiders the imagery, historical circumstances, and artistic approach of one of modern art’s most iconic figures, as well as his art’s relevance to threats of climate change and environmental despoliation we face today.
About the Speakers
Michael Lobel is Professor of Art History at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. His publications include four books, the most recent being Van Gogh and the End of Nature (Yale University Press, 2024). A regular contributor to exhibition catalogues and to such publications as Artforum and the Art Bulletin, his research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Dedalus Foundation, the NEH, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Robin Kelsey joined the Harvard faculty in 2001 and has been Shirley Carter Burden Professor since 2009. From 2016 to 2024, he served as Dean of Arts & Humanities, and prior to that he served as Chair of the Department of History of Art & Architecture. He has served as President of the Harvard College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and in 2018 was selected to represent the faculty of the University at the installation of Lawrence Bacow as Harvard’s 29th President. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Harvard University Committee on the Arts. He holds a PhD from Harvard and a JD from Yale Law School and has practiced law in California.
About the Series: The Environment Forum
The Environment Forum at the Mahindra Center is convened by Robin Kelsey, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography at Harvard University, and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, John Cowles Professor of Art and Anthropology at Harvard University. The series is dedicated to exploring new work in the arts and humanities that reframes or reimagines the relationship of humanity to the rest of nature.
This event is co-sponsored by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.