Art Series Continued: One of our favorite art writers, James Elkins (How to Use Your Eyes, What Painting Is) returns to Cambridge for a discussion of his newest book Pictures and Tears, a strange and wonderful investigation into paintings and the emotions they evoke, a book for people who have wondered at the power of painting and been moved by it, perhaps event to tears. Elkins writes about his encounter with Bellini's ecstasy of St. Francis, the effect of the Rothko Chapel on visitors, our responses to Caravaggio, Greuze, Friedrich, Bouts, David, Ingres, Regnault, a Kamakura period landscape, and Van Gogh. Hundreds of correspondents shared with him their experiences of crying in front of paintings, fleshing out what becomes a history of emotion and vulnerability, and an inquiry into the nature of art.

Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway. 6PM. Tickets available at Harvard Book Store.

Other titles by James Elkins:

• How to Use Your Eyes
• What Painting Is