Inaugurated in 1949, the Mellon Lectures is the longest-running lecture series at the National Gallery of Art. The series was founded “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the Fine Arts.” Past lecturers have included art historians, artists, poets, and musicologists.
Beginning April 28, 2024, award-winning actress, playwright, and professor Anna Deavere Smith will explore performance as a way of knowing in her four-part series, Chasing That Which Is Me and That Which Is Not Me.