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.
Most of 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 or in our flip-the-page brochure. We have compiled a list of frequently asked questions, but if you cannot find an answer to your query please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Download our Short Courses calendar, listing all our courses and tours per month, below
Short Courses CalendarObject in focus
Enclosed, and filled with delightful sounds, sights and scents, Mughal gardens were multi-sensory spaces of repose and pleasure. Successive rulers took a great interest in the design, layout and symbolism of their palace gardens revealing these not only as social and private realms, but also as spaces of public and political significance.
Find out more in our Summer School on campus course Power, Politics and Architecture: Palaces and Gardens in Mughal South Asia.
Summer School on campus
Coming Next:
Summer School online
Monday 29 May – Friday 16 June 2023
Our Summer School online courses are ideal for those who cannot travel to London or take a full week off to study art history. Each course consists of 10 pre-recorded lectures and 5 live Zoom seminars; the lectures are released 4 weeks before the start of the seminars to give you ample time to watch them at a time and pace that suits you. The live Zoom seminars last about 1.5 hours and are recorded for those who cannot attend them.
Find out more
Russian Art 1863-1932:
Innovations, Influences and the Roots of Modernity
Summer School online
Monday 12 – Friday 16 June 2023
Dr Natalia Murray
£395
This course examines the history of Russian art in all its diversity from the first artists’ rebellion against St. Petersburg’s almighty Art Academy in 1863, the blossoming of arts in Russia’s ‘Silver Age’, to the upsurge of avant-garde art and its subsequent disappearance after 1932, when Socialist Realism became the only artistic style permitted in the Soviet Union.
Find out more and book now