Art in Times of Anxiety

Keene Community Education is excited to announce that Art Historian Kimberley Olmstead will be teaching this class on Art in Times of Anxiety:  Images of Turmoil and Resilience.

In this lecture, we will explore art created during periods of profound uncertainty and upheaval, including war, plague, revolution, and widespread social disruption. We will examine how artists responded to collective crises such as wartime conflict and disease outbreaks, transforming fear and instability into powerful visual expression. Some moments will explain entire art movements, such as Dada and Surrealism, which were a direct response to a world that no longer made sense.   Other moments will be those of individual personal turmoil, focusing on artists such as Francisco Goya and Edvard Munch, whose struggles deeply shaped their work. By placing these artists within their broader historical contexts, the lecture reveals how art can serve as witness, protest, catharsis, and resilience in the face of anxious times.