When was the last time you found Christ in a piece of art? Learn from these Education Week lectures about how you can find Christ in all the art you encounter—even the pieces that aren’t about Him.
When it comes to spiritual experiences, it’s no secret that being intentional is a critical requirement—just look at the Lord’s commandments to ask, seek, and knock. While we’re familiar with these actions in a scriptural sense, they can also apply to the art we encounter. At BYU’s 2025 Education Week, humanities faculty and educators from the Museum of Art lectured on techniques we can use to slow down and find Christ in the visual world around us.
“Look, See, Behold: Increasing Spiritual Understanding Through Visual Literacy” by James Swensen
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the camera as well as the pen.” —László Moholy-Nagy, 1947
In an age of endless content, how often do we really stop and try to understand the meaning behind the images we see? In his lecture, Professor James Swensen (History of Photography) explored how individuals can reclaim their visual literacy and better navigate the constant stream of images they encounter daily.
Swensen gave three principles that can help build visual literacy: looking, seeing, and beholding. In his system, looking is a physical action that directs our attention to separate important details from the rest. Seeing, on the other hand, is a broader term that places the thing we’re looking at within a larger context, while beholding is “the ability to plant what we have experienced deep within our heart.” These concepts may seem similar on the surface, but Swensen explained that “the subtle distinct meanings of these three words convey the fact that vision is key to a greater spiritual understanding.”
Combined, these principles allow people to not just acknowledge the images they come across, but to internalize and understand them on a more meaningful level. And while it might take work—especially considering the fast-paced content everyone is used to—it’s worth it. “Like any muscle, your eyes need exercising,” Swensen said. “We need to slow down in order to look. . . . Look for symbols. Look for meaning. Think of how those things relate to your life, and pay attention to how you’re feeling, and you’ll be inspired.”
“Drawing Near to the Savior in Unexpected Places: Spiritual Experiences with Modern and Contemporary Art” by Kenneth Hartvigsen
You might not expect to have a spiritual experience when you’re looking at modern and contemporary art, but Assistant Professor Kenneth Hartvigsen (19th- and 20th-Century Painting) explained how these forms of art can lead us to unique spiritual insights. His lecture outlined five principles we can use to find Christ in the art we encounter, enriching our spiritual lives in ways that might be a little unexpected.
When searching for spiritual truths in art, Hartvigsen proposed a set of principles to go by. First, remember that art is a defining part of our mortal experience—since everyone in the world without exception creates art, art is something that unites and unifies us. Second, understand that most artists are authentic and open. Though the unfamiliar nature of abstract art styles may seem difficult to understand, Hartvigsen warned against immediately dismissing it. “Most people create art from a place of authentically trying to understand and experience mortality,” he said. “Sit with the art a minute, because if you walk into a space and somebody has such a very different life experience than your own, you’re less likely to immediately understand the art they create.”
To help audiences keep an open mind, Hartvigsen shared three additional principles: 1) The purpose of art isn’t usually to create a 1:1 representation of the natural world, 2) art and empathy go hand in hand, and 3) we should approach all things through faith. “Worry less about what [the art] is or what it means and instead pay attention to how it feels,” Hartvigsen said. “We can have profound experiences by approaching all things through faith. . . . Art sometimes helps us feel things or learn things that we can’t learn in other ways, and that faith can unlock that potential.”
“Slow Looking: The Art of Making Meaningful Connections” by Liz Brailsford
In response to the ever-present go go go of modern life, a number of counter trends (such as slow food and slow living) have appeared as people seek a less tiring lifestyle. Museum of Art educator Liz Brailsford (Comparative Studies MA ’19) discussed the concept of slow looking, which fits right in for anyone seeking to slow down and appreciate life a little more.
The concept of slow looking comes from Harvard researcher Shari Tishman’s book Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation. In it, Tishman outlines four steps that can help us pay closer attention to the world around us: looking big (taking in the whole picture), narrowing your focus (focusing on important categories within the art), changing your perspective (adjusting the way you’re looking, whether physically or figuratively), and comparing and contrasting (noticing similarities and differences within the art or between art pieces and stories). “My quick definition to this is that it is an approach that encourages spending more time looking at a single work of art in order to understand it better,” Brailsford said.
From analyzing the big picture on Norman Rockwell’s 1965 painting Lift Up Thine Eyes to comparing and contrasting different paintings of Queen Esther, Brailsford showed how we can slow down and take the time to contemplate the truths we find in art. And, she explained, it’s not just art that slow looking can help us get more out of—it’s everything in our lives, including our spirituality. “Elder Neal A. Maxwell advised us that ‘frantic, heedless busyness crowds out contemplation and leaves no room for renewal,’” Brailsford said. “However, slow looking, whether with visual arts or in our scriptures, leaves room for spiritual, mental, and emotional renewal, thus enabling a more meaningful connection with our Savior.”
“Here, There, and Everywhere: Finding Christ at the BYU Museum of Art” by Philipp Malzl
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” —Henry David Thoreau
It might be easy to recognize Christ in a painting that features Him, but what about finding Him in all the art we encounter? In his lecture, Philipp Malzl, head of education for the Museum of Art, took audiences on a Christ-centered tour of some of the museum’s art pieces. With each, he showed that we can learn something about Christ from every single piece—even the ones that aren’t necessarily about religion.
Malzl focused on three different categories of art: works depicting Christ’s likeness, works that point to Christ but don’t feature Him, and works that inspire discipleship despite not having anything to do with religion. With each, he showed how pondering the symbolism within an artwork can call to mind eternal truths and principles, from Hermann Kaulbach’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt to Robert Indiana’s Love to even Irene Rice Pereira’s Threshold of Infinity.
While these works of art might seem vastly different from each other, Malzl pointed out that each artist had the same tools to work with, creating symbolism through choices about both subject material and abstract concepts like spacing, color, and shape. “Remember, artists have no words typically to use, so they have to use everything else at their disposal, body language and all kinds of elements of art and principles of design,” he said. “Isn’t that beautiful, how artists can make things more complex and add layers? Every work that we look at has symbolic meaning.”
Want to put these principles into practice? Pay a visit to BYU’s Museum of Art! Both Lift Up Thine Eyes and Rest on the Flight into Egypt are currently on display at the museum as part of its Earthbound and Heavenward exhibition.