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Spotlight Tour: The Art of Conservation, with Sachi Laumas ’26

A smiling young woman, wearing a black sweater and white pants, stands on a bridge with a view of a city behind her. She is gesturing toward an abstract painting that appears to float. The painting consists of several flat planes with thick black lines that border mostly white space; three small spaces are filled in with blue, red, and yellow.
One of the works Sachi Laumas will spotlight is Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow, and Red (1922), an abstract painting still in its original artist-made frame.

Tour

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This event does not require registration; see further details below.

The work of conservation often goes unnoticed. On this tour, Sachi Laumas ’26 will explore the role of conservation in the life of an artwork and the effect it has on how we experience art. She will also discuss the museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, the first scientifically based conservation and research department in any U.S. museum. The Straus remains a world leader in conservation practice and training to this day. Stops on the tour are the marble Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii (1859), made in Rome by American sculptor Randolph Rogers; a Persian sweetmeat dish from c. 1200 (Seljuk-Atabeg period); and Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow, and Red (1922), an abstract painting still in its original artist-made frame.

Spotlight Tours offer a chance to explore the collections of the Harvard Art Museums through the eyes of a Harvard student. Free and open to the public, these tours start outside the museum shop on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 2pm. Drop in and join the conversation! And find out what the Student Guides are up to anytime on Instagram @harvardarthappens.

Please check in with museum staff at the Visitor Services desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the tour. Tours are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.

The Harvard Art Museums offer free admission every day, Tuesday through Sunday. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

This program is supported by the Ho Family Student Guide Fund.

The Ho Family Student Guide Program at the Harvard Art Museums prepares students to develop original, research-based tours of the collections. Through their training, Student Guides gain knowledge of the collections and develop skills in critical thinking, visual analysis, public speaking, and leadership.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance. Please include the name and date of the program in the subject line of your email.