Close-Looking Immersion: Gauguin’s Mr. Loulou

About the Class

What becomes visible when we slow down and spend sustained time with a single work of art?

In this hour-long online session, we’ll examine Paul Gauguin’s Mr. Loulou. Using the Barnes’s Visual Experience Platform (VXP), we’ll look closely at details of color, pattern, and composition to better understand how Gauguin transformed an ordinary portrait into a whimsical, decorative work.

Through the Barnes Method, an approach that encourages discovery through observation and conversation, we’ll explore how careful looking can sharpen perception, deepen curiosity, and reveal unexpected connections within a single work of art. Whether you are new to art history or a frequent museum visitor, this session offers an opportunity to engage with art as an active, reflective practice.

The class is online-only. More about online classes.

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Barnes classes will:

• Sharpen your observational and critical thinking skills.
• Improve your ability to communicate about art.
• Deepen your appreciation for cultures and histories outside your own.

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Barnes Method

Barnes Method courses follow the teachings of Dr. Albert Barnes and Violette de Mazia. Classes focus on rigorous formal analysis and direct visual engagement with works of art. In this method, close looking at art helps build critical-thinking skills that can be carried beyond the gallery walls.

What Students Are Saying

“Bill is extremely good at leading a discussion and integrating student comments in a constructive manner.” —Close-Looking Immersion: Glackens’s Beach at Dieppe with Bill Perthes

“Although focusing on one painting, the occasional addition of other works in comparison was very enlightening. ” —Close-Looking Immersion: Cézanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire with Kaelin Jewell