On this tour, Sophia Pasalis ’25 will explore three works that celebrate life through the representation of the body. Grounded in questions of materiality and composition, the tour features an earthenware sculpture of a female figure from China (Majiayao culture, Machang phase, 2350–2050 BCE); Auguste Rodin’s anatomically explicit sculpture Iris, Messenger of the Gods [Another Voice, Called Iris], made in France (c. 1890–91); and Harlequin Nude (1956), a lavishly painted canvas by Karel Appel, who was associated with CoBrA, a postwar international avant-garde movement with bases in Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

Spotlight Tours offer a chance to explore the collections of the Harvard Art Museums through the eyes of a Harvard student. Free and open to the public, these tours start outside the museum shop on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 2pm. Drop in and join the conversation! And find out what the Student Guides are up to anytime on Instagram @harvardarthappens.

Please check in with museum staff at the Admissions desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the tour. Tours are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.