A visitor to Berlin's Gemäldegalerie looks at an exhibition of paintings from the Renaissance. Photo by Joan Brebo on Flickr. License: CC BY-NC.
Instructor(s)
Prof. Kristel Smentek
MIT Course Number
4.601
As Taught In
Fall 2018
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course investigates the power of art in historical perspective, focusing on Euro-American traditions of art from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century. It examines changing conceptions of the artist, the work of art, and the discipline of art history, exploring the roles images and objects have played over time, how they functioned in various social, economic, and cultural contexts, and whose interests they served or sought to disrupt.