Art has the power to transform us, heal us, and bring us joy.
Humans have created works of art since the beginning of time. Whether it is a painting, a poem, or a building, a work of art has the potential to change us, to challenge us, to alter our views of the world.
As the accomplished artist Pablo Picasso said: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Several members of the University of Miami faculty explore which works of art have made a lasting impact on them and why.
What building has astonished you for its beauty and why?
I don’t have to look far for a compelling example. The Murphy Studio building does that for me. It is astonishingly beautiful and meaningful in the way that it encapsulates and symbolizes community. In the way that the elevation, the overhang, the forms contain and embrace a group of students or a class. Its very form maps its purpose. It is transformative in how it participates, and the new shaping comes together as a community.
- Rodolphe “Rudy” El-Khoury, dean of the School of Architecture
What work of art has astonished you with its beauty and why?
The Pigorini Zemi.
It is an object that was taken from the island then known as Hispaniola to Europe within 10 years of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Even at this early date—though made in the Caribbean by an unknown Taíno artist—it is a creolized object that contains materials from Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
When I saw it for the first time in Rome, I was stunned not only by its beauty, exquisite craftsmanship, and the knowledge the fact of its existence contained, but its surprising power. It spoke to me on a cosmic level and has been a part of my research ever since.
- Erica James, associate professor, Department of Art and Art History
Why do you think art has the power to transform us?
Art literally holds space for history, culture, our emotions, our hopes, and joys. Its beauty can calm us, but it can also energize and compel us. I find that some of the most difficult conversations can be had civilly when art becomes the primary interlocutor. Art is a doorway for us to experience awe and the incommensurable power of the sublime.
- Erica James, associate professor, Department of Art and Art History
What building has astonished you with its beauty and why?
The experience of moving through Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals bath complex in Switzerland is undeniably awe-inspiring. It is not a building that stands out like a monument in the city or landscape, rather it is a collection of spaces, built into a mountain, that connect to an existing structure. The architect created architectural sequences relying on natural materials, natural light, water, sound ambient light and the Alpine landscape. The project is a master class in sensory architecture. It’s not just a space you see—it's a space you feel with your whole body. The sequence one experiences—the transitions between warm and cold baths, dark and light spaces, narrow corridors opening to generous volumes—create a kind of spatial choreography. Light trickles in through carefully placed slits and skylights, never overpowering but always guiding. The acoustics, too, are designed so you hear the echo of footsteps or the gentle lapping of water in a way that enhances your sense of solitude or intimacy. The design is all about experience over spectacle. The way the bath complex blends into the Alpine hillside creates this powerful sense of stillness and retreat. That underground quality, paired with the use of local Valser quartzite stone, makes it feel timeless and elemental—like it’s always been there.
- Carmen Guerrero, associate professor of practice, School of Architecture
Why do you think art has the power to transform us?
Because art begins with a story, a narrative, an inspiration, a feeling, or a concept, it connects with each of us in different ways, depending on our own experiences. Art acts like a mirror, not just showing us the world but also reflecting who we are inside. It creates space for introspection, helping us see things we might not have noticed about ourselves. Whether it is a painting, song, or a poem, a beautiful piece of pottery, art evokes emotions and thoughts that can lead to deep personal insight and even change.
- Carmen Guerrero, associate professor of practice, School of Architecture
What work of art has astonished you with its beauty and why?
The Cathedral of Chartres with its Gothic stained-glass windows is one of the most transcendent places I know. On an overcast day, the structure is dark and brooding. But when the sun shines through the multicolored glass, it is like being in a jewel box or even in a jewel itself, highlighting and refracting the vivid hues of the red, green, gold, and sapphire blue glass for which Chartres is famous. In the building, you are surrounded by color and light, and the light projected on you through the panes transforms you into color and light as you stand in the path of the sun. You feel like you have ascended to some place that is not completely on this earth. This is precisely the experience that the 12th century abbot Suger described when he looked at the colored glass windows of his abbey church outside of Paris. He saw himself “dwelling, as it were, in some strange region of the universe which neither exists entirely in the slime of the earth nor entirely in the purity of heaven.” Almost 900 years later, that transcendent experience remains unchanged, transporting the visitor to another realm through colored rays of light.
- Karen Mathews, professor, Department of Art and Art History
Why do you think that art has the power to transform us?
Art has the power to transform us because of its openness. A great work of art does not provide all the answers or make complete statements; it is not a closed loop but an open question. It leaves room for the viewer to interact with it and initiate a dialogue. It provides an opening so that you can draw your own conclusions, create your own meanings, or imagine a different way of being or thinking. It is an invitation, a provocation, but it requires a response. It can activate, elevate, and inspire, eliciting unique reactions from a variety of audiences. Art allows us to be who we are but also changes us in a profound way.
- Karen Mathews, professor, Department of Art and Art History
What building has astonished you with its beauty and why?
Perhaps the one structure that resonates with me the most is the Pantheon in Rome. It is the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, dating back to the second century, and it remains structurally intact after 1,900 years. Every time I walk into this grand space with our Rome Program students and look up at its open oculus and am surrounded by its proportional perfection, I am reminded of why it has influenced so many generations of architects, such as Brunelleschi during the Renaissance and his design for the Duomo in Florence. All these structures speak to the potential of human creativity, and they share common denominators, such as the designer’s ambitions, intended symbolism, and the buildings themselves often represent societal and technological transformations, crystallizing for us today the ethos of the eras in which they were constructed and, not least of all, their own resilience.
- Sonia Chao, associate dean of research, School of Architecture
Why do you think art has the power to transform us?
Art and architecture play fundamental roles in our lives, serving as comforting retreats for each of us and as backdrops to our collective everyday experiences. They can profoundly define, mirror, and solidify our communities and societies, expressing who we are and what we value, need, or have lost. By connecting our personal experiences with our shared hopes, they become essential elements of our cultural identity, development, and a consequential force in our social progress.
- Sonia Chao, associate dean of research, School of Architecture
