Short Courses 2023

Online and on campus

A touching portrait of the family of the artist Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) by his close friend and collaborator Peter Paul Rubens i Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) , The Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder , Around 1613–15, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) © The Courtauld

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 Calendar

Object 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
A manuscript leaf showing the emperor overseeing the creation of a garden i Folio from a "Baburnama" Manuscript: Emperor Babur Babur Supervising the Creation of a Garden, c.1590-1598, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Image: Wikimedia Commons

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
A stony, hilly landscape with two small figures and a donkey. i Michael Angelo Rooker, The Vale of Llangollen, with Castell Dinas Bran, c.1798, graphite, watercolour on paper, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) © The Courtauld

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
i Kazimir Malevich, Suprematism, 1915, oil on canvas, The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Our programmes


A road winds along a field with peach trees. A small village can be seen in the background.

Spring Courses

Online and on campus options. Our Spring Courses go considerably beyond introductory surveys. Organised thematically, they provide a solid basis for further study in Western art from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. ...

Summer School

Online and on campus. Summer School 2023 features 30 intensive five-day courses on a global range of topics from late classical to contemporary art. ...

A group of houses can be seen behind the trees in a colourful forest.

Autumn Courses

Online and on campus options. Our Autumn Courses go considerably beyond introductory surveys. Organised thematically, they provide a solid basis for further studies of areas of Western art from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. ...

A man wearing a top hat stands at his easel.

Showcasing Art History

Online and on campus. As the programme name implies, the series aims to share the latest art-historical thinking, and The Courtauld’s excellence in teaching and research, with the wider public....

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803–1860), Odalisque in an interior with a parrot, 1830s. Watercolour and opaque watercolour on wove paper, 13.4 cm x 9.8 cm. © The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Saturday Study

Saturday Study delivers short, intensive and, we hope, enjoyable events that help to give further context to our temporary exhibitions, or use selected works from our permanent collections as starting points for the investigation of significant art-h...

A man sits at a table and inspects a statue

Open Event

Invitation to our Open Morning. New to art history? Unsure if The Courtauld is for you? Come and meet us over coffee, conversation and a range of short talks!...

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