Art History with Curating

Art history with curating brings together the scholarly study of visual art and architecture with the professional skills needed to present, interpret, and care for collections. Art history examines works of art as objects of cultural, social, and historical significance, asking how they were made, what they meant to their original audiences, how their meanings have changed over time, and how they connect to the societies that produced them. Curating adds a practical dimension, engaging with the processes by which works are selected, displayed, contextualised, and interpreted for audiences in galleries, museums, and other institutional settings.

At Birkbeck College, University of London, this three-year full-time programme gives you the opportunity to study the visual arts as a central element of human endeavour while developing the professional skills to participate in the curation and display of art. The programme is taught by world-leading scholars and draws extensively on the incomparably rich art collections, monuments, and study facilities of London, which is one of the world's great centres of art history and curatorial practice. Birkbeck's own Peltz Gallery provides a direct institutional context for engaging with curatorial practice.

You will develop critical and analytical skills in art history alongside practical knowledge of how curatorial decisions are made, how exhibitions are developed, and how collections are managed.

Graduates go on to work in museums, galleries, auction houses, arts organisations, heritage bodies, arts journalism and criticism, publishing, education, and cultural policy. The curating element of the degree opens specific professional pathways in collection management, exhibition development, and public programming. Many graduates also pursue postgraduate study in art history, curating, museum studies, or cultural heritage, developing their expertise for academic or specialist professional roles in the art world.