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.
- Art Revolutions from 1905-1925
Course start date: Wed 3 Jun 2026Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Christopher CollierCubism, Futurism and Constructivism are pivotal movements in the history of modern art – encapsulating all the promise and peril of the 20th century’s devastating birth, and even helping rewrite perceptions of space and time.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £51.00 - Art in Britain since 2000: where are we now? Course start date: Fri 5 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronDiscover how exciting, new UK-based artists use both experimental and traditional approaches to art to address issues of identity, history and personal experience.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - Study day: Berthe Morisot and the women of the Impressionist movement Course start date: Sun 7 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Caroline LevisseThis study day explores Berthe Morisot and the women of Impressionism, from Mary Cassatt to Anna Ancher, Harriet Backer, Elizabeth Forbes, Cecilia Beaux, and Jane Sutherland. We will examine their lives, styles, and successes, and ask why Impressionism offered women a space to thrive.
Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Teatime talks: Woman and Object -Inside the world of Marisol Course start date: Tue 9 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Chantal CondronStep into the world of Marisol Escobar (1930–2016), the Venezuelan American artist, whose bold, witty sculptures blended Pop Art, Pre-Columbian traditions, and social commentary. This online talk will introduce you to the work and background of this New York-based artist who challenged gender norms and captured American society from the 1960s in her uniquely quirky style.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - The Norwich School - a unique society of landscape painters Course start date: Wed 10 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresOn this course you will study the fascinating work of the 19th century Norwich School, a loose association of generations of painters from artistic families who worked in Norwich, Norfolk, one of the most important and wealthy regional capitals of the day. You will explore the beautiful landscapes produced by these artists and also discover work produced by remarkable women in the group.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Friday lates: a culture in transition - contemporary art in China Course start date: Fri 12 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Meitao QuLearn about the art of contemporary China from the end of the Cultural Revolution to today. This introductory session explores the social, political and cultural conditions of Chinese society through the lens of art and visual culture.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Cutting it fine: collage in modern & contemporary art Course start date: Sun 14 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronImmerse yourself in an exploration of the history of collage going as far back as ancient China to international contemporary art today. This engaging study day will enhance your knowledge of the roots of this fascinating media, and illustrate how collage techniques have been pivotal to major modern and contemporary art movements, from Cubism, Dada and Surrealism to photomontage and digital art.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Teatime talks: Woman and Object: inside the world of Nicola LCourse start date: Tue 23 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Chantal CondronDiscover the eclectic life and work of Nicola L., a pioneering French Moroccan artist who in recent years has gained wider international attention. Renowned for her radical sculptures and performances, Nicola L.’s practice explored connections between the representation of the female body and everyday objects. Witty, dynamic and inherently feminist, her iconic works including Red Coat and Woman Sofa, placed her as one of the most exciting female artists of the 1960s avant-garde and Pop Art movements.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - A condensed history of sculpture: ten sculptors who’ve shaped art history Course start date: Sat 27 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy sculptors from the Renaissance to the Post-Modern, including Donatello, Bernini, Canova, Rodin, Picasso and Whiteread, considering styles, materials, and techniques of key works within social and cultural contexts.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Mexican modernism Course start date: Wed 23 Sep 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caroline LevisseFrida Kahlo was just one of many Mexican artists who brought together politics, identity, and an avant-garde spirit in their air, making Mexico City one of the most exciting art centres of the 1920s and 1930s. Looking at murals, prints, photographs, and paintings, this course in an introduction to a brilliant and thought-provoking movement.
Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - Study day: Goya and the Romantic movement Course start date: Sat 3 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore Romanticism as an international movement, focusing on Francisco Goya (1746-1828) as its key example, considering issues such as historic context, biography, material experimentation and artistic and theoretic interests.
Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00 - Modern art: movements 1850-1900 Course start date: Fri 9 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayExplore art and culture in the late 19th century Europe, focussing on the major developments in modern art including the Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Symbolism, and their relationship to wider cultural contexts.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - War artists: the British art of World War I Course start date: Sat 10 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersThis course will examine visual culture borne of World War One - experiences and responses, propaganda and commemoration in paintings, prints and sculptures.
Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Modern art in America, 1930s: the age of Hopper, Rivera and the New Deal Course start date: Sat 17 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersFrom Edward Hopper to Philip Evergood to Diego Rivera, study American art from the turbulent 1930s, analysing movements and styles, social and political context, materials, and art theory.
Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Friday lates: Lubaina Himid – longing and belonging Course start date: Fri 23 Oct 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Chantal CondronThis Friday Late art history course spotlights the work of artist Lubaina Himid, one of Britain's most thought provoking artists.
Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
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