The campus in watercolor

Adam Van Doren

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Adam Van Doren was talking art with a friend, the author and historian David McCullough ’55, when McCullough had a sudden inspiration. “Adam,” he said, “I want you to do Yale.” Van Doren, a noted painter of watercolors who favors buildings and streetscapes as subjects, took McCullough up on it, even though he had few previous ties to the university. (He studied architecture at Columbia.) What started as a small project capturing views of McCullough’s former residential college, Davenport, grew as Van Doren spent time painting in the Davenport courtyard and got to know people there. Before long, he had an exhibition scheduled in the college, plans for a catalog, and a lot more painting to do. The catalog, A Yale Sketchbook, features more than two dozen paintings of the campus, including this view of Beinecke Plaza and the Law School. Van Doren says the organic growth of his Yale adventure is one reason he likes painting on site better than the studio: “A lot of interesting things happen.”