A reading group,
for art.
The Looking Group is a free, self-directed visual-education project in New York City. We meet weekly in museums and other spaces to spend time with works of art, talk about what we see, and learn together. No prior knowledge is required.
Next Group
Looking Group 3 · Coming soon
Modern & Contemporary Painting
Cézanne to the Present
A multi-museum Looking Group tracing modern and contemporary painting from Cézanne through the twentieth century and into the present.
Begins November 2026
Explore the groupPreviously, in the galleries
Looking Group 1 · Completed
European Painting, 1300–1800
A Looking Group tracing the birth and development of post-Medieval European Painting from International Gothic through the eighteenth century.
Looking Group 2 · Completed
European Painting in the Long Nineteenth Century
A Looking Group moving chronologically through the history of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century painting, from Neoclassicism and Romanticism through Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism and early Modernism.
Further afield
Sculpture
Ancient to contemporary
Design / Decorative Arts
Useful objects, furniture, interiors, tableware and industrial design
Architecture
New York architecture, from the colonial period to the present
Photography
Looking through the history of photography
Drawing & Printmaking
Drawing, engraving, etching, lithography, prints and artist books
Landscape Architecture
Cemeteries, parks, plazas and designed landscapes
Image credits
Artwork images: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain. Seagram Building: Jo Baert, CC BY-SA 3.0. Green-Wood Cemetery: Jim Henderson, CC0. Images cropped for display.
How the Looking Group works
Close looking comes first
We begin with attention to the work itself, taking time to notice before turning to interpretation.
No prerequisites
No previous attendance or art-historical training is required, only curiosity and a willingness to engage in serious intellectual work.
Readings are optional
History, criticism, theory, and literature offer tools for looking; the art remains primary.
Discussion, not lecture
The organizer develops the syllabus but does not teach; participants lead the discussion.
Join the Looking Group.
Get new syllabi, weekly meeting details, and announcements about the Looking Group.