Art History

Degree: Master of Arts in Art History
Mode of Study: Full-time, part-time
Duration: 1 year (full-time) or 1,5 year (part-time)
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
Specialisations:
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The MA in Art History in Leiden is unique in the Netherlands for the interdisciplinary range of subjects offered and for the diversity of the optional tracks available. You learn to consider modern art and design as links between media, cultures and communities. you also look at the ways in which sculpture, architecture and visual arts were applied together in the Renaissance and Baroque periods as a means of conveying a convincing message to the viewer.


It is not only the art object itself that is key; the commissioner of the work and the reactions of the public also play a central role. A binding theme is the effect of works of art on the viewer and the ways in which the medium of art works contribute to this. This broad approach ensures you become familiar with different methods and allows you to enter into discussion with other disciplines such as anthropology, natural sciences, theology and gender and international studies.

The information about this programme is available in the following languages:

4 reasons to choose Art History in Leiden

  1. This MA programme is unique in that it studies a substantial body of works of art, buildings and material culture from the early Middle Ages until the present day, and that these fields of specialisation are approached from a comparative perspective. The programme aims at an in-depth knowledge of relevant cultural contexts, of the response to art, architecture and design, and the concepts and competences used in these, as well as of intellectual ideas, literature, and social norms and values.
  2. The university is connected to and located near a network of major institutes and collections, providing our students with access to important primary sources which are used to inves-tigate the broader relationship between art, material culture and intellectual history. These institutes include: the National Museum of Ethnology; the Natural History Museum; the Museum for the History of Science; the National Museum of Antiquities; the Leiden University Library Special Collections; Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal/Scheltema, location for contemporary art.
  3. Art history in Leiden studies the visual arts (including photography and new developments such as the relationship between art and science) as well as architecture and the urban environment, decorative arts and domestic culture, both past and present, and their interrelationships.
  4. Students in the History of Art and Material Culture of East Asia and of South and Southeast Asia specialisation have access to unique collections in Leiden of Chinese and Japanese objects of art and material culture, as well as other artefacts and primary (textual) sources.

Prof. Kitty Zijlmans

“For us, the close relationship between art, science and material culture is key to the study of art history.”

“We teach students to take a fresh approach to art and to ask themselves:
What is our own concept of art? We can’t just apply our Western concept of art to works from other parts of the world, which is what we have been doing for centuries. International art history doesn’t just consist of European and American art. The basic principle of World Art Studies is that art history is an approach to art from across the world. We, therefore, take a global and comparative perspective. For example, we compare Western art with that of Asia. This ‘global’ aspect is a must in the world of today with its enormous wealth of art production. Moreover, students also want to know how Western art relates to other art traditions. Also, science plays an important role in our master’s programme.

In the present-day, very changeable world of art, there is room for many new forms and concepts. Artists, for example, raise such issues as the extent to which man can be moulded, and they make us look differently at political and ethical questions. What does art say about the times we live in? We also incorporate into the master’s unique museum collections in Leiden, from Naturalis and Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, to the University Library with its special collections. For us, the close relationship between art, science and material culture is key to the study of art history. We are constantly making cross-overs.”