Art History for Seniors Course

Lesson 1 • How to Look at Art

Teaches a structured method for observing and describing artworks before interpreting them. Builds the habit of slow, attentive looking.

Lesson 2 • Essential Vocabulary and Concepts

Introduces core terms used to describe, analyze, and compare artworks. Shared vocabulary enables meaningful discussion throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • What Art History Studies

Defines art history as a discipline and explains why humans create and preserve art. Establishes the intellectual framework for the entire course.

Lesson 1 • Greek Art from Archaic to Classical

Traces the evolution of Greek sculpture and pottery from rigid Archaic forms to naturalistic Classical ideals. Connects artistic change to cultural values.

Lesson 2 • Prehistoric Cave and Rock Art

Examines the oldest known human images and objects, focusing on purpose and technique. Grounds students in art's deepest origins.

Lesson 3 • Hellenistic and Roman Art

Explores the dramatic emotionalism of Hellenistic sculpture and Rome's adaptation of Greek models. Shows how empires used art for propaganda and civic identity.

Lesson 4 • Art of Ancient Mesopotamia

Covers Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian visual culture, including ziggurats and relief carvings. Shows how art served rulers and gods in early city-states.

Lesson 1 • Romanesque Architecture and Sculpture

Analyzes the heavy stone churches and carved portals of the Romanesque period across Europe. Connects pilgrimage culture to artistic patronage.

Lesson 2 • Early Christian and Byzantine Foundations

Covers the shift from Roman to Christian imagery and the development of the icon tradition. Establishes the theological basis for medieval visual culture.

Lesson 3 • Gothic Cathedrals and Stained Glass

Explains how pointed arches and flying buttresses enabled soaring Gothic interiors filled with light. Students see architecture as theology made visible.

Lesson 1 • Northern Renaissance Art

Contrasts Italian developments with Flemish oil painting and German printmaking traditions. Shows how the Renaissance spread and adapted across Europe.

Lesson 2 • High Renaissance Masters

Focuses on Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael as exemplars of Renaissance ideals of beauty and harmony. Analyzes their techniques and major works.

Lesson 3 • Mannerism and Late Renaissance

Explores the deliberate distortion and artifice of Mannerist artists reacting against High Renaissance harmony. Bridges the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Lesson 4 • Proto-Renaissance Innovations in Italy

Examines Giotto and his contemporaries who introduced naturalism and emotion into late medieval painting. Sets the stage for the full Renaissance.

Lesson 1 • Baroque Painting Across Europe

Surveys Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velázquez as national expressions of Baroque painting. Highlights how political context shaped each artist's approach.

Lesson 2 • Rococo Style and Aristocratic Taste

Contrasts Rococo's pastel palette and playful themes with Baroque grandeur. Connects the style to 18th-century French aristocratic leisure culture.

Lesson 3 • Origins and Characteristics of Baroque

Defines Baroque style through its use of dramatic light, movement, and emotional intensity. Links the style to Counter-Reformation religious goals.

Lesson 1 • Realism and Social Commentary

Covers Courbet and Millet's rejection of idealized subjects in favor of working-class life. Shows art as a vehicle for social critique.

Lesson 2 • Romanticism and Emotional Expression

Analyzes Romantic art's emphasis on nature, the sublime, and individual feeling as a reaction against reason. Covers Delacroix, Goya, and Turner.

Lesson 3 • Post-Impressionism and New Directions

Examines how Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Seurat each pushed beyond Impressionism in distinct ways. Bridges the 19th and 20th centuries.

Lesson 4 • Neoclassicism and the Enlightenment

Examines the revival of Greek and Roman models as a moral and political statement during the Enlightenment. Connects David's paintings to revolutionary ideals.

Lesson 1 • Dada, Surrealism, and the Unconscious

Explores anti-art Dada and Surrealism's use of dreams and the unconscious as artistic sources. Connects both movements to the trauma of World War I.

Lesson 2 • Abstract Art and Non-Objective Forms

Traces the development of pure abstraction through Kandinsky, Mondrian, and the Bauhaus. Shows how art freed itself entirely from representation.

Lesson 3 • Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting

Examines the postwar New York School's emphasis on gesture, scale, and the act of painting itself. Marks the shift of the art world's center to America.

Lesson 4 • Fauvism and Expressionism

Covers Matisse's bold color and Kirchner's distorted forms as parallel revolts against naturalism. Establishes the emotional priority of modern art.

Lesson 1 • Global Contemporary Art

Surveys significant artists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East working today. Expands the art-historical canon beyond Western Europe and America.

Lesson 2 • Conceptual Art and Minimalism

Covers the shift from object-making to idea-based art and the reduction of form in Minimalism. Challenges students to reconsider what art can be.

Lesson 3 • Pop Art and Consumer Culture

Analyzes how Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Hockney appropriated mass media imagery to comment on consumer society. Connects art to everyday visual culture.

Lesson 4 • Feminist and Identity-Based Art

Examines how feminist artists and artists of color reclaimed representation and challenged art-world exclusion. Connects art to social justice movements.

Lesson 5 • Visiting Museums and Galleries Today

Equips students with practical strategies for visiting exhibitions and engaging with contemporary art in person. Synthesizes course skills into real-world application.