History of European Art: Local Traditions and Transnational Networks

["Please visit our website (www.fubis.org) for an overview of all courses offered and for possible updates to the course programme.About this courseThis course explores European art from the 15th to the 20th century with a particular focus on urban centres like Florence, Rome, Venice, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Berlin. The aim is to analyse how the visual arts contributed through the centuries to shape local identities as well as European cultural traditions common to different countries and transcultural, global networks.The course will present iconic moments of the history of the arts in Europe by drawing a special attention to episodes of cultural exchanges and hybridisation that arose from travelling artworks as well as from artists’ travels in Europe and beyond. From the role of artists like Raphael and Michelangelo in 16th-century papal Rome to the rise of genre painting in the Flanders and the Dutch Republic of the Golden Age, from the "painters of modern life" in 19th-century Paris to the German avant-garde of the 1920s, we will analyse the artworks and their authors in relation to the different historical contexts and the places of their creation. Recurrent themes will include the focus on the complex interplay between artists and patrons, local traditions, individual creativity, and the broader social, political, and cultural contexts in which artworks and buildings were produced.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. Visits to the outstanding collections of Berlin museums will allow the participants to study specific artefacts in depth and learn how to look closely at works of art."]