This week, take a peak beyond the brush strokes and pencils, and explore the minds of artists not through their art – but letters.

‘More than Words,’ on display at the Georgia Museum of Art, is a collection of illustrated personal letters.

The exhibit provides a glimpse into the personal lives of 19th and 20th century artists Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Thomas Eakins, Marcel Duchamp and Dale Chihuly.

“This exhibit is something different than other ones in the past,” said Jennifer Collard, media relations coordinator for the GMOA. “It is an excellent exhibition portraying a different side of artists that most people never see, offering a window into their lives.”

On loan from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, the traveling exhibit celebrates the 50th anniversary of the archives and has rotated around the country since November 2006.

The exhibit showcases approximately 60 letters and is divided into six sections: “Bon Voyage” explores travel, “I Do” discusses love, “Plays on Words” is puzzles, “Visual Events” highlights prominent events, “Graphic Instructions” are for the reader and “Thank You.”

“In this age of modern technology works, these works are designed to inspire us to communicate more fully and remind us to cherish handwritten, personal communication,” said Liza Kirwin, curator for the exhibit.

The exhibition also allows art majors and students to learn more about artists discussed in coursework.

“Many students have probably studied these artists, and this will give them a chance to see objects for which they are not as well-known as opposed to their art,” said Ashley Callahan, in-house curator at the museum.

To help commemorate the exhibition, there will be a lecture entitled “The Decorative Art of Documents” Thursday at 2 p.m. in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium.

Facilitated by Dale Couch, senior archivist and member of GMOA’s Decorative Arts Advisory Committee, the discussion will examine the composition of decorative documents.

In addition to analyzing the works from the “More than Words” collection, it will also focus on Georgia art sampling from the Georgia archives and works ranging from the 18th through the 20th centuries.