Course Description

This course explores selected key moments in European art from the 15th to the 20th century, focusing on how artworks were produced, circulated, and interpreted within specific urban, political, and cultural contexts. Rather than offering a linear survey, it investigates pivotal episodes that illuminate broader issues of mobility, identity, and canon formation.

Drawing on case studies from cities such as Florence, Venice, Paris, and Berlin, students will examine how interpretive categories—including national, stylistic, and canonical labels—were historically constructed. From the commissions of Raphael and Michelangelo in 16th-century papal Rome to the emergence of genre painting in the Flemish and Dutch Golden Age, and from the peintres de la vie moderne in 19th-century Paris to the radical experiments of the German avant-garde in the 1920s, the course will investigate artworks in relation to the historical conditions and urban environments in which they were created. It will consider the dynamic interplay between artists and patrons, the tension between local traditions and individual agency, and the broader political, cultural, and social frameworks that shaped the production of images and architecture.

Students will gain understanding of the main art movements and relevant artists from the Renaissance to the postwar period as well as the basic concepts and terminology of art history. Particular attention will be given to the experience of studying artworks in person. Visits to the outstanding collections of Berlin museums and in-class exercises will train students to observe attentively, engaging with the artwork as a complex object of visual, material, and historical meaning. Learning to look closely, as a form of critical attention, is at the core of the course’s methodology.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• Semi-Intensive German Language Courses

• Creating a Solo Performance: Berlin Cabaret/Kabarett