Where better to study art history and curatorship than surrounded by Australia’s national cultural and collecting institutions? What’s more, where better to study Art History than in Australia’s premier practice-led research institution, the ANU School of Art and Design. Here, you will study the history of art while surrounded by the making of art.

At ANU you can take advantage of our strong connections to the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library and the Australian War Memorial to participate in our renowned internship program.

And like many of our graduates before you, you might even find yourself working there.

Our leading Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies program offers courses in a range of fields including Australian and Asian art; 19th – 20th century Australian and European art and design; modernism and postmodernism; curatorial practice, all taught by our specialist art historians.

Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies students learn to:

• differentiate and critique at an advanced level the historical, social, cultural and political contexts of diverse periods, styles, and methods in Art History
• closely analyse at an advanced level individual works of art, and interpret and communicate ideas to both specialist and non-specialist audiences using disciplinary language and conventions
• construct comprehensive linkages between the study of Art History and the practicalities of curating
• undertake independent research.

Our scholarship programs are designed to support students from diverse backgrounds and abilities, and we automatically consider applicants for some of them upon application.

*QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024

^Times Higher Education - Global University Employability Ranking 2023-24

Image: Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles being prepared for its journey from the National Gallery of Australia to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016, ABC News.