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 - 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
Summer schools • Short courses
This course will look at Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings, drawings and notebooks within the interdisciplinary framework of art and science. It will offer a viewing of key drawings in Oxford collections.
- Sun 06 Jul 2025 – 12 Jul 2025
Summer schools • Short courses
Examine the major revolution in the arts that took place during the period known as the Italian Renaissance, by looking at works by key artists from Cennini to Michelangelo. The course will encompass architecture, sculpture and paintings.
- Sun 13 Jul 2025 – 19 Jul 2025
Summer schools • Short courses
This summer school will explore the rich and distinctive legacy of Venetian art and architecture, from the late medieval period until the present day – from Bellini to the Biennale.
- Sat 09 Aug 2025 – 16 Aug 2025
- 9:00am – 12:30pm
Summer schools • Short courses
Explore art in Paris in the 1920s – a vibrant Jazz Age that featured both modernity and nostalgia, innovation and tradition. Discussions will include Picasso, Matisse, Surrealism, Art Deco, Josephine Baker, the School of Paris, and Man Ray.
- Sat 09 Aug 2025 – 16 Aug 2025
- 9:00am – 12:30pm
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