A BA student examining a work of art in The Courtauld Gallery


All programmes of study offered by The Courtauld Institute of Art aim to give students access to the best available research-led teaching, and world-class learning resources. The Institute offers one undergraduate degree programme: BA (Hons) History of Art. Our BA programme is designed to:

  • equip students with a detailed knowledge and systematic, historical understanding of Western Art from antiquity to the present
  • produce graduates with the skills and critical curiosity necessary for participation in a range of employment opportunities
  • provide a preparation for further academic study


A graduate of The Courtauld’s BA in the History of Art will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of major developments and issues in the history of Western Art. S/he will be aware of and be able to position their own analysis in relation to a range of established interpretative methods employed in the discipline.

This will involve:

  • familiarity with major monuments and key texts
  • appreciation of the historical processes of change in Western art and architecture from antiquity to the present
  • a sophisticated and in-depth grasp of specific periods or fields of art history, and the intellectual issues raised by their study
  • an awareness of the role of different physical settings in determining how works of
    art are viewed and understood
  • first-hand experience of a range of objects, which facilitates understanding of the processes by which works of art have been made and altered.