SBMA Travel Lecture Series

Wednesday, January 18, 4 pm

Author’s Talk & Book Signing: When the Dog Speaks, the Philosopher Listens, by 

Nigel McGilchrist’s book, which was released in July of 2022, looks at the moment in history when a way of thinking which we can truly call "Western" was born. It was a fruitful coming together of the ancient knowledge of the East with the restless curiosity and ingenuity of the Greek mind. It was a hinge moment in which what we understand as the scientific way of thinking first gained traction. And yet, it was a science that was also deeply imbued with spiritual awareness and a sense of the beauty and unity of creation.

Thursday, January 19, 10 am

Lecture by Nigel McGilchrist: Venice & the Veneto

Venice is perhaps the world’s most beautiful city and one of its most anomalous human creations. Built in the water of a lagoon, it needed, as it grew in size and importance, a hinterland of its own which both protected its approaches from the land, and provided it with agricultural produce and timber. This became the area known as the Veneto—the flat-lands and alpine foothills that extend to the North and West of Venice. The unequalled international wealth and culture of Venice at its apogee in the 15th and 16th centuries flowed out into this area, imbuing it with some of the most accomplished painting and dignified domestic architecture we possess and the harmonious villas and gardens which were to influence so profoundly American architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Friday, January 20, 10 am
A Conversation between Cherished SBMA Travel Leaders: Susie Orso and Nigel McGilchrist

Susie Orso and Nigel McGilchrist converse and reminisce about the Museum’s Travel Program over its busy half-century of history—discussing what the real significance of travel is for us, how travel is done at its best, and what instructive lessons we all learned from our abstention during the pandemic years. They share stories and joyous moments and pictures from recent journeys, far and wide, with the Museum’s indomitable group of traveling members and friends.