Graduate Diploma History of Art

The Graduate Diploma is a concentrated form of the undergraduate degree and gives graduates of other disciplines the opportunity to apply their existing skills to the study of Art History. The curriculum offers teaching across an unrivalled breadth of periods and cultures. You will have the opportunity to study art and architecture from late antiquity to the present, and from across the globe: from Byzantium to the Early Modern Islamic World, from Medieval and Renaissance Europe from the Buddhist Arts of Asia, to Contemporary China to Black Art Histories.

Our teachers are researchers at the cutting edge of their areas of specialism and they share their knowledge, discoveries and ideas with you in seminars, lectures, gallery visits and tutorials. The modules we teach are directly shaped by the tutor’s research and partly for that reason change from year to year – modules outlined below are therefore indicative of subjects that may be on offer.

The Courtauld Graduate Diploma in the History of Art is designed to equip students who hold an undergraduate degree or equivalent in another discipline with the broad art historical knowledge and transferable skills needed to engage critically with art historical debates, transition into a career in the arts, or undertake further post-graduate study.

The programme is supported by a personal tutor and by study sessions and workshops on topics such as reading art historical texts and essay writing. Students have access to all that the Courtauld has to offer, including world-class events run by the Research Forum, careers events and one-to-one sessions with professional writers. In addition to the compulsory elements of the programme, you are welcome to attend lectures from other programmes, including other optional modules which range across art historical periods and approaches to the discipline.

The Graduate Diploma can be taken either as a full-time nine-month programme over two semesters, or part-time over two years (four semesters). Part-time students are required to attend in-person two days each week for discussion classes and seminars; lectures may be watched remotely.