MA History of Art student examining a sculpture


The MA in the History of Art offers a wide range of special options designed to:

  • equip students with a specialist knowledge in a specific field of Western art from Antiquity to the present
  • produce graduates with the methodological skills, research techniques and sophisticated understanding necessary for participation in a range of employment opportunities, especially in the arts and heritage sectors
  • provide a preparation for further academic study

As a graduate of The Courtauld’s MA in the History of Art you will be able to demonstrate specialist knowledge and understanding of major developments and issues in a specific field of Western art. You will be aware of and be able to position your own analysis in relation to a range of interpretative methods employed in the discipline. This will involve:

  • familiarity with a substantial body of visual material and associated texts
  • an understanding and knowledge of relevant historical and intellectual contexts
  • a sophisticated and in-depth grasp of a specific period or field of art history, and the intellectual issues raised by its study
  • the experience of having undertaken supervised independent research and dealing with primary materials