The Courtauld shares its scholarly expertise with everyone interested in art and art history through the Short Courses. Our courses present up-to-date art-historical thinking, often including our lecturers’ current research, and are led by experts in their field who are chosen for their academic excellence, enthusiasm, and the ability to communicate with diverse audiences.
Covering a global range of historical periods and art-historical themes, the Short Courses programme has much to offer to both newcomers to the subject and to participants with existing knowledge and interests.
Our on campus courses combine teaching in the classroom with visits to galleries and museums across London. If you are stretched for time or too far away from The Courtauld, you can also study with us online! You will receive expert lectures and reading material between 2-4 weeks before the start of an online programme so that you can immerse yourself in the content at your own time, in preparation for the lively online seminars during the course delivery week.
You can find our courses and their full descriptions on this website. Our frequently asked questions may answer any queries, but if not, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Download our Short Courses calendar for 2024, listing all our courses and tours per month, here:
Short Courses Calendar 2024In Focus: Making Sense of Computing in Art
In the context of our increasing engagement with Artificial Intelligence, this course raises fundamental questions about the application of computer science to the study of art. What algorithmic methods have been developed to address problems in the history and interpretation of works of art? How do they work, what are their successes, and limitations? How might they evolve, as more and more images and texts about art become available online? Most importantly, what effect will these new tools have on our understanding of art? This intensive four-day course combines lectures with afternoon visits to galleries and research centres and is suitable to anyone with an interest in the subject – no expertise in computing or programming is required.
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Coming Soon: September courses on campus
From 10-12/13 September, four intensive, on-campus short courses engage with fundamental aspects of Western art. These include the making and meaning of Italy-Byzantine and early Italian panel painting (with hands-on workshop elements!); the significance of the print in European art; Abstraction as a key mode of visual expression; and the application of computer science to art and art history.
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Happening right now: Summer School on campus
Summer School on campus offers 20 courses over four weeks, exploring topics ranging from spectacle in eighteenth-century Venice to ancient Mayan art.
Morning or afternoon classroom sessions are complemented by object-focused study in London’s museums, galleries, printrooms, churches, and other sites. The Courtauld Gallery will host post-graduate talks introducing aspects of the collections, features as a teaching resource in many of our courses and will be the splendid venue of one of our evening Summer School parties.
Summer School on campus includes a framework programme to which all students across the month are invited and which consists of a plenary lecture, a music recital, a film screening and an ‘in conversation with’ debate.
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