General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent).

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Practices of Art History

This module will introduce you to the ways in which art history has developed as an academic discipline, illustrating the manifold ways in which it has been practiced from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present.

Academic Preparation for Art Historians

This module (which is not taken for credit) will help you to develop the academic skills you need for graduate study in History of Art. It will facilitate the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study, as well as helping you to engage with History of Art as a new discipline.

Independent Research Project

The Independent Research Project is an extended essay of 8,000 words in length about a topic that you select, with the support of your supervisor. It allows you to pursue your interests in much greater detail than is possible in course work and results in a significant piece of research, which could lay the groundwork for further postgraduate study.

Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• The Renaissance: North and South
• Art and Disruption, 1900-today
• East meets West: The Visual Arts in Colonial and Post-colonial India
• Reality After Film
• Visual Art and Poetry
• Deconstructing Medieval and Early Modern Buildings

Teaching

The Practices of Art History module provides you with an introduction to the discipline and helps you understand the ways in which the history of art can be studied. You can develop your interests by choosing other modules ranging in focus from the Middle Ages to Contemporary Art and Architecture.

Teaching takes place in small group seminars where you are encouraged to reflect upon and discuss works of art and the ways in which these have been interpreted. When the opportunity arises, seminars are taken out of the classroom and artworks are studied in situ.

Your studies culminate in the independent research project (8,000 words), in which you will work closely with your supervisor on a one-to-one basis, to research and write on a topic of your devising.

Class sizes

Class sizes will naturally vary, however seminars normally involve 8 to 14 students.

Typical contact hours

You will have between six and ten hours on average per week of classes.

Assessment

Modules are assessed via a mixture of written assessments, slide tests, formal examinations, presentations and project work.

Reading lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platformLink opens in a new window. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue. 

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for a range of sectors, including Arts Management, PR, Teaching, Galleries and Auction Houses. Many others have undertaken further study at PhD level.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Careers History of Art Alumni workshop
• Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
• History of Art – Securing Internships
• Career planning and making applications

History of Art at Warwick

Take the perspective that brings you closer

The History of Art department covers a wide range of research from the medieval to the contemporary, from Britain and Europe to the Global South, and across media including art, architecture, design and craft, moving image, and material culture. We work with cutting-edge approaches and themes including environmentalism, cryptography, empire, materiality, and theories of display and spectatorship. Our Venice programme offers a wide range of opportunities for teaching and learning, and is central to our research culture.

Get to know us better by exploring our departmental website.Link opens in a new window

Our courses

• History of Art and Visual Studies (MA)
• History of Art (MA by Research)
• History of Art (MPhil/PhD)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2025 opens on 2 October 2024.

Applications will close on 2 August 2025 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course