History of art
Gain a global perspective of the History of Art with a part-time course
Our part-time qualifications in the history of art recognise the globally diverse range of users, makers, and viewers, offering you the chance to join a group of peers eager to learn more about visual cultures, voices, and experiences. Discover the latest debates in the history of art, through flexible learning and visits to Oxford’s world-leading museums and collections.
What can you gain?
- Get up to speed with the latest debates and methods to interpret works of art, particularly in the areas of politics, society, gender and identity, material culture and decolonising practices.
- Exchange ideas and develop questions with a group of like-minded peers.
- Gain practical knowledge and develop your interpretative skills through museum and gallery visits in Oxford and London.
- Fit study around your commitments and responsibilities by combining online digital learning with in-person teaching.
Short courses for adult learners
Explore a new topic or revisit a favourite subject over the course of a few days, a few weeks or a term. Our short courses run in person or online, with some offered in both formats – so you can choose the best study option.
Upcoming courses
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course is for anyone interested in understanding Islamic art and culture, and examines the relationship between faith and art forms.
- Mon 12 May 2025 – 25 Jul 2025
Online - flexible • Short courses
From Paris to Moscow, Glasgow to Barcelona, this course examines the richness and variety of European art nouveau.
- Mon 19 May 2025 – 01 Aug 2025
Online - flexible • Short courses
Beginning with the vital structural innovations of the late Victorian era, this course traces the rise and spread of modernism in European and American architecture, and concludes by examining contemporary architecture and future possibilities.
- Mon 19 May 2025 – 01 Aug 2025
Online - live • Short courses
A comprehensive introduction and historical framework to the rich, diverse, artistic and architectural legacy of Andalucía, Spain's most southerly region, produced between about 750 and 1550 CE, but with reference to its more ancient history.
- Wed 28 May 2025 – 25 Jun 2025
- 5 meetings
- 2:00 – 3:00pm
Online - live • Short courses • Hybrid - in person or online
Trees speak to all of us. Across the world and throughout history, trees have been central to our lives: sources of shelter and food and wonder. This day school explores how Western artists through the ages have celebrated their mysterious power.
- Sat 07 Jun 2025
- 10:15am – 5:30pm
Summer schools • Short courses
You will look at a selection of cantos from Dante’s Divine Comedy’s ‘Inferno,’ in a parallel Italian-English edition, and uncover the text’s rich cultural background while learning how to interpret such masterpiece of Italian medieval literature.
- Sun 06 Jul 2025 – 12 Jul 2025
History of art award programmes
Part-time undergraduate awards and postgraduate degrees in the history of art and design.Undergraduate Certificate in the History of Art
The part-time Certificate in the History of Art teaches students about the production and provenance of works of art in museums, as well as key skills such as how to view and describe works of art.Undergraduate Diploma in the History of Art
A two-year part-time course in which you study two modules from a choice of four, each of which allows you to immerse yourself in a specific period of art history. Taught at second-year undergraduate level.MSt in Literature and Arts
An interdisciplinary programme which encompasses literature, history, art, architectural history, political thought and the history of ideas. Designed around 3 sequential periods of British history, from Early Modern to the early 20th century.MSt in the History of Design
This two-year part-time master's degree explores how ordinary things and places created since 1851 reveal fascinating traces of historical experienc