Modern & Contemporary Art
Art History Courses Online & In London
Get to know the art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries with one of our expert art historians. If you’d like to be able to discern between surrealism and dadaism or, if you’d like to better understand the art experiments of the avant garde, we have a wide variety of classes on movements, artists and ideas to get you started or to build on your established knowledge. Join us online, in the classroom, in the gallery or out and about in London.
Online, classroom-based and gallery-based art history courses
Many of our courses are also offered online, giving you the freedom to study from anywhere you need to be. We also offer our classes in-person at our Central London location and at many galleries and museums in and around London. Use the Location filters on this page to choose your preferred delivery method. See our guide to online learning for more information about our live online courses.
Learn from expert tutors
At City Lit we are proud of the expertise of our tutors who are all professional art historians working actively in museums, galleries, research and writing, universities and auction houses. As experts in the field, they are able to provide you with the support and guidance you need to develop your art historical knowledge. As teachers they provide student-focused education, helping students achieve their art historical goals, both the personal and the professional.
- Twenty-four modern & contemporary artists you should knowCourse start date: Tue 5 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Francesca CavalloLook in depth at four artists a week across a series of themes from alienation to post-conceptualism. What links can be made between artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and where is art heading?
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Study day: Impressionism – radical styleCourse start date: Sat 9 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Impressionist movement, focusing on Monet as its key example, considering such issues as stylistic progress, artistic influences, material developments, modern subject matter, and social context.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
- Study day: Surrealism - everything you’ve wanted to know, but were to afraid to askCourse start date: Sun 17 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronThe Surrealist movement marks its centenary in October 2024, marking the moment that the First Surrealist Manifesto was launched in Paris led by its chief protagonist, André Breton. Come and celebrate this art historical landmark in this special workshop dedicated to Surrealist art. Get closer to the roots of the movement, discover its leading and less well-known artists; have a go at automatic drawing; and engage with Surrealism’s central themes of the dream world, unconscious and desire.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - The beginnings of Impressionism: the Barbizon SchoolCourse start date: Tue 19 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberWho said the Impressionists were the first to paint ‘en plein air’? Get lost in wood and green and light and shade in the large forest of Fontainebleau near Paris and learn about a group of 19th-century painters who influenced the Impressionists in the art of painting landscape outside.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00 - Study day: Cubism and its impact – from orphism to futurismCourse start date: Sat 23 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Cubism, focusing on Picasso as its key example, and the movements it influenced including Orphism, Futurism, and Vorticism, considering such issues as formal and material experimentation, and social context.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Makers not muses: Claude Cahun, Eileen Agar and Isabel RawsthorneCourse start date: Fri 29 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronExplore the work of three radical artists whose work and practice defied convention in modern art from the 1920s to 1960s. Discover how each artist challenged and transcended society’s expectations of being a ‘muse’ by living freely and making art in a variety of media, from painting and sculpture to collage, photography and performance. - Study day: Rothko, Pollock and Abstract ExpressionismCourse start date: Sat 30 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Abstract Expressionist movement, focusing on Pollock and Rothko as its key examples, considering
issues such as the movement’s social and political context, artistic influences, and stylistic progress.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Pop Art, from Warhol to HockneyCourse start date: Sat 7 Dec 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy work of artists such as David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol within the context of the international Pop Art movement and the changing world of mass culture, consumerism, and celebrity.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Lunchtime lecture: Art on the Silk RoadCourse start date: Wed 8 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayAn introduction to the Silk Road and the eclectic art it produced. We explore how cultural connections transformed visual cultures from China to Byzantium.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Art in Britain 1950-2000 – 'This is Tomorrow' (part 2)Course start date: Fri 10 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronDiscover the work of selected British artists whose innovative practice shaped the development of modern art in Britain from the 1950s to 2000. Explore how and why the ideas and themes behind their work continue to be relevant to today’s audiences. - Women in art 1800-1900Course start date: Tue 14 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresDuring the 19th century female painters and sculptors gained greater prominence, although a career in art was still challenging for women artists. In this course we examine their work and how such progress was achieved. - Art of 20th century Spain from Picasso to AlmodóvarCourse start date: Wed 15 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithThe course provides a general introduction to Spanish art and culture of the period, and considers the distinctive contribution made by Spanish artists to 20th-century visual culture. Explore the development of Spanish art from Impressionist Joaquin Sorolla and Picasso’s 'Guernica' to the installations of Juan Muñoz in the 1980s and the cinema of Pedro Almodóvar.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00 - Modern art: movements 1900-1950Course start date: Fri 17 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresExplore art and culture in the early 20th century, focussing on the major developments and movements in art including Cubism, Abstraction, Dada and Surrealism and their relationship to wider cultural contexts. - Art in Britain 1890-1918 – New English Art Club to WWICourse start date: Mon 20 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julia MusgraveExplore the works of British artists and their relationship to the legacy of academic painting and the art of continental Europe between 1880-1918. Who led developments and how does the art of the period reflect the times?
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
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