A violin, bow, and at least two pages of sheet music hang from a dark, forest-green, wooden door in this vertical painting. The string holding the violin hangs from a nail at the top center of the composition. The violin takes up the top two-thirds of the painting. The wood body of the instrument is a deep chestnut brown alongside the fingerboard, and it lightens to tawny brown at the corners. White powder coats the strings near the bridge and gathers on the instrument beneath it, where the strings are played. The bow hangs to our right, and it and the violin overlap sheets of music, which curl at the corners. Several pins or nails are pounded into the wooden door, and a few small holes and vertical cracks mar its surface. The door’s handle is a metal ring hanging at the center to our left, and bracket-shaped arms of two rusty hinges nearly span the width of the painting from the right edge. A bolt is missing from the top hinge, and the rightmost section of the bottom hinge has been broken off. A scrap of newspaper is pasted on the door just below the violin, to our left, but the text is illegible. Finally, the corner of a pale blue envelope has been tucked into the edge of the painting near the lower left. A black and white postage stamp with the number 25 is affixed to the upper right corner, and the envelope has been stamped several times. Cursive writing of the address reads, “W. M. Harnett 28 East 14th St New York.” The word “Chargé” has been penned in the lower left corner of the envelope. A circular cancelation stamp near the postage stamp locates and dates the envelope: “PARIS 3 27 AVRIL 86.”

William Michael Harnett, The Old Violin, 1886, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mellon Scaife in honor of Paul Mellon, 1993.15.1

Finding Awe: William Michael Harnett's The Old Violin

Focus: Collections

Interactive Workshop

Saturday, March 15, 2025
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
West Building Main Floor Gallery 65

Talks
Workshops
In-person
Registration Required

Where have you found awe in music? Reminisce on musical memories while studying Harnett’s illusionistic composition and pondering its deeper meanings.

About “Finding Awe” workshops at the National Gallery of Art

We all could use a little more awe in our lives—come find it in the museum! In this series of interactive workshops, explore where artist have found awe and how it has inspired their work and meditate on awe in your own life.

Join us for a 90-minute pause from your daily routine, to breathe deeply and look mindfully at a single work of art. You’ll be invited to look closely, wonder, and share your insights. We hope you’ll leave with some “awe practices,” tools for cultivating an awe mindset in your daily life.

This program is grounded in the National Gallery’s longstanding commitment to slow looking and offers new “awe practices” drawn from the research of Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California-Berkeley, director of The Greater Good Science Center, and author of “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life” (2023). Research shows that experiences of awe help support mental and physical wellbeing, open us up to greater creativity and deeper empathy, and connect us to our shared humanity.

Registration required. Each topic is offered three times; register for one. Attend as many different topics as you like. View the full series.

Ages 18 and up. Questions? Email [email protected].