Love and Desire in the Visual Arts

51st Annual Cleveland Symposium

Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Friday, November 14, 2025

This year’s Cleveland Symposium titled, Love and Desire in the Visual Arts, takes love – in its many forms – as its theme. Held in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of the joint program between CWRU and CMA, the Cleveland Symposium is one of the longest-running annual art history symposia in the United States organized by graduate students. This year’s symposium features innovative research papers that explore themes of love and desire as manifested in a variety of mediums, historical periods, and geographic locations, focusing on topics ranging from medieval spiritual marriage to Victorian lovesickness. The program features an exceptional keynote speaker, Dr. Melanie Holcomb (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); three sessions of graduate student papers; a facsimile viewing in the Ingalls Library at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and museum tours led by CWRU graduate students. All are welcome and participation is free.

Stay tuned for a full program of events, coming soon!