Through the Short Courses department, The Courtauld shares its scholarly expertise with everyone interested in art and art history. Our courses present up-to-date art-historical thinking, often including our lecturers’ new research, and are led by Courtauld staff, alumni and associates – all experts in their field.
Covering a global range of historical periods and art-historical themes, our programme has much to offer to both art-historical novices and participants with existing knowledge and interests.
To suit the needs of our diverse audience, we have developed a variety of course formats and delivery modes, both online and on campus, ranging from intensive day-time courses over three to five days to new evening courses over five weeks.
From 2022, some online and evening classes also include the option of meeting your lecturer and classmates in person during a Saturday visit.
No pre-existing art-historical knowledge is required to benefit from our courses – our lecturers are chosen for their academic excellence, enthusiasm, and the ability to communicate with a non-specialist audience. All you need to take part in our courses is a passion for the visual arts and for art history, along with a good command of the English language.
Courses are not assessed and while we provide extensive course materials on our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for most parts of the programme, it is up to you how much preparatory and subsequent study you wish to undertake.
If you would prefer to you can view our 2022 courses as an online ‘turn page’ brochure.
Our department is always happy to advise on content and delivery methods, and help with technical matters. If you have any questions, please contact short.courses@courtauld.ac.uk
Free Online Art History Summer University: All Year 12 students from UK non-selective state schools/colleges can apply. Deadline 6 May at 5pm.
Coming Soon: The Courtauld’s acclaimed online Summer School
The programme runs throughout June and offers 16 in-depth art history short courses ranging from Renaissance to contemporary art. All courses are led by experts in their field and student numbers are limited to enable proper conversations. Extensive course materials, including lectures and readings, are released well in advance of daily live Zoom seminars and allow students to learn at times suitable to them and at their own pace.
Our courses
