Shadows in the Cave: Seeing as Knowing in the History of Art

Since the High Renaissance, in works such as Giorgione’s The Three Philosophers (1505-9), artists have been drawn to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as a way of visualising what it is to understand the world through seeing it. In partnership with the NGV, this Macgeorge lecture with Professor Terry Smith will explore Plato's Allegory of the Cave has influenced art.

Professor Terry Smith is an Australian art historian, art critic, and artist who has lived and worked in Sydney, New York City, and Pittsburgh. Since 2001 and as of 2025 he is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh, Faculty at Large in the Curatorial Program of the School of Visual Arts, New York, and for the academic year 2025-6 is Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge University.