Our teaching is informed by our staff's cutting-edge research, providing an education that engages with the latest debates of the discipline. The university's prestigious art collection, as well as Aberdeen's internationally-renowned galleries and museums forms a significant part of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and allow for first-hand encounters with a wide variety of artworks and architecture.
Our Degrees
- Undergraduate
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We offer a four-year undergraduate programme leading to an Honours degree in Art History, together with a wide range of joint degree options.
The Art History programme at the University of Aberdeen encompasses the study of art, architecture, and curation, covering various media and techniques. Our research-led teaching situates European art in its global connectedness and its full complexities, while our practical engagement with artworks beyond the classroom develops and enhances both vocational and transferable skills. You will study at a university steeped in 500 years of social and artistic development, and in an Art History department recognised for its high levels of student satisfaction.Beyond the classroom, you can get involved with the student-led Art History society and undertake paid internships and volunteering opportunities within our nationally significant University Collections, and local arts organisations including Aberdeen Art Gallery, Grampian Hospitals Art Trust and Peacock Visual Arts.
As a graduate, you will be ideally placed to pursue a career in the art gallery and museum sectors, arts education, auction houses, publishing and journalism, fine art conservation, or postgraduate study. Our alumni work for employers including the National Galleries of Scotland, Craft Northern Ireland, University of St Andrews Museums & Special Collections, Historic Environment Scotland, and Lyon & Turnbull and Christie’s auction houses.
- Postgraduate Taught
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At postgraduate level, we offer two taught degree options:
MLitt in Christianity and the Visual Arts
Taught jointly with the Department of Divinity. On campus or online, full time or part time modes of study available. The MLitt in Christianity and the Visual Arts combines the study of art and faith in the Christian world from medieval to modern times. Explore faith and the interpretation of Christian artworks in and beyond the western European context, with access to world-class ecclesiastical, artistic, and cultural resources at the University.
Scottish Visual History
Join us online and discover Scotland's fascinating visual history across the 18th and 19th centuries. A short course to be taken separately or constituent to the MLitt in Scottish Heritage available OnDemand.
- Postgraduate Research
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The Art History department offers research supervision to PhD and research MLitt students. We also offer a PhD by Distance Learning which is suitable for students who cannot come to campus regularly; and an Integrated PhD in Christianity and the Visual Arts.
We are an active group of researchers, offering expert supervision to research students in a wide range of topics, including late medieval art and architecture, early modern British and European art, art theory and historiography, contemporary art and visual culture, the history of collecting and exhibitions from medieval and early modern art through art theory to contemporary visual culture.Art historical research in Aberdeen benefits from an exceptional archive and museum at the University, whilst at the same time, members of staff foster strong links with researchers worldwide. The University Library has been built up over five centuries and is home to an excellent collection of research literature, but also to an important historic collection. Aberdeen’s special collections are particularly strong in areas such as illuminated medieval manuscripts, archaeology, and travel literature. The unique George Washington Wilson archive contains over 45,000 original glass plate negatives made by this pioneer Victorian photographer.
Visual resources are equally rich. The north-east of Scotland has a distinguished architectural heritage from the Middle Ages onwards, while Aberdeen Art Gallery has a fine collection of French and British (including Scottish) art. In addition to its important William Dyce archive, it has one of the best collections of Victorian painting outside London, with examples of work by Rossetti and Dyce.
Our research students are embedded in a thriving and close-knit research community, benefitting from regular seminars and training opportunities. Current PhD students are affiliated with the George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture, the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, the Interdisciplinary Institute, and RIISS.
September and January start dates available