On Location: Drawing the Outdoors

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy St.
Cambridge
Fri., Sep. 18, 2026 – Sun., Jan. 17, 2027



Meander through visions of the outdoors to discover how landscapes offered 19th-century European artists freedom, renewal, and rediscovery beyond the pressures of society. Placing the natural world at the center of artistic expression and featuring drawings by J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, among many others, On Location: Drawing the Outdoors includes approximately 140 sketches, watercolors, and pastels in a showcase of creativity devoted to and inspired by nature.

Organized into 10 thematic sections, the exhibition unfolds like a series of trails through the landscape, tracing changing perceptions, the rise of environmentalism, and shifting national and artistic identities. Along the way, it introduces the techniques, formats, and functions of outdoor drawings and watercolors, showing how artists employed them to interpret the countryside and portray sites of natural beauty. On Location: Drawing the Outdoors offers visitors a space to reflect on how the experiences and motivations of 19th-century artists still resonate today.

Gazette Classification: Art/Design, Exhibitions
Organization/Sponsor: Harvard Art Museums
Cost: Free admission
Contact Info: A rural landscape scene of flat farm fields with an unmanned cart in the center.
Harvard Key Required: No
More info: harvardartmuseums.org…