The idea of covering five centuries worth of art and music in one hour seems impossible.

But not for Susan Glover, the Georgia Museum of Art’s community docent who will be guiding the gallery talk “Western Art and Music across Five Centuries.”

“This talk will concentrate on six paintings from the museum’s permanent collection,” she said. “They will be from different periods in history and different art styles, spanning the five centuries. The paintings chosen where painted in 1510, 1739, 1860, 1896, 1933, and 1964.”

By combining the experience of listening to classical music while viewing a painting, Glover hopes to ingrain a permanent connection between the two.

“By putting art and music of the same period together, it helps put ourselves back in the era of the artist and composer,” she said. “We see and hear at the same time the sounds and visual styles that people of that era were experiencing. I feel the arts influence our interpretation of the world, and at the same time world events influence the type of art and music people want to see and hear. They influence each other.”

Carissa DiCindio, GMOA’s curator of education, encourages all audiences to attend the hybrid discussion.

“In this case, Glover will add a musical component to this experience,” DiCindio said. “And seeing the works and hearing the music at the same time creates some very interesting connections between the two disciplines.  This gallery talk shows us how parallels between art and music can be traced throughout history and how they evolved and influenced each other over time.”

The inspiration for combining the histories was simple – it’s a connection of Glover’s personal passions.

“I have always enjoyed art and music,” she said. “When looking at the terms given to the different styles of art and music they are very similar — Renaissance, Romantic, Modern, etc. Therefore, it seemed that comparing them might broaden our understanding of both.”

In general, attending a gallery talk provides participants with insight into history, creativity and technique.

“Gallery talks give us opportunities to hear more about the works of art in the galleries while actually standing in front of the original works,” DiCindio said. “I think that being in the galleries and making comparisons between the works of art on which we are focused and others in the galleries is a really special experience.”

GALLERY TALK

When: 2-3 p.m.

Where: Georgia Museum of Art