Undergraduates

Our aim

We aim to help students understand the many different ways in which works of visual art can convey meaning – especially students who have never studied history of art before.

How we do this

We do this by engaging closely with individual works of art both in reproduction and, more importantly, in the original. We also investigate how texts written by critics, by philosophers and by artists themselves can illuminate not only the nature of artistic activity but also changing ideas about the relationship between art and society.

Students taking the undergraduate degree courses in History of Art and Literature and History of Art are given the opportunity of experiencing original works of art during a compulsory 12-day study visit to Florence. Optional trips are also available to Paris, Berlin and other European cities. In addition, all students go on regular visits to London museums and galleries - an hour's journey by train; for more information on gallery visits see our 'Gallery visits' page.