Art History and Spanish & Latin American Studies

Art history and Spanish and Latin American studies is a combination that places visual culture and linguistic and cultural expertise in productive dialogue. Art history is a discipline concerned with how objects, images, and built environments communicate meaning, examining the social, economic, and ideological forces that shape visual culture across time and geography. Spanish and Latin American studies develops genuine linguistic proficiency alongside knowledge of the history, culture, and politics of the Spanish-speaking world, one of the most geographically and culturally diverse language communities on the planet.

At the University of Aberdeen, this five-year full-time programme gives you time to develop real depth in both disciplines. You will engage with a wide range of visual media including painting, sculpture, architecture, and film, and develop the critical vocabulary to discuss and write about art with precision. The Spanish and Latin American studies strand develops your command of the language across all four skills, with cultural and historical study that moves beyond metropolitan Spain to embrace the diversity of Latin American societies and their complex relationships with colonialism, modernity, and identity.

Aberdeen's rating for student satisfaction in art history reflects a strong teaching culture, and the combination opens genuinely distinctive intellectual territory.

You will develop skills in visual analysis, archival research, language proficiency, critical writing, and the ability to engage with complex cultural and historical material across two quite different disciplinary traditions.

Graduates pursue careers in galleries and museums, arts administration, cultural journalism, auction houses, heritage organisations, translation, international business, and the broader cultural and creative sectors. The linguistic and cultural expertise that Spanish and Latin American studies provides is particularly valuable in roles with a Spanish-speaking world focus. Postgraduate study in art history, curatorial practice, Latin American studies, or Spanish is a well-established route.