This class provides an introduction to the history of Western art from the late thirteenth century until the early twenty-first. Taking advantage of Paris’s incomparable artistic holdings, we study iconic masterworks in person, examining the major artists, movements, and concerns that have driven the last seven hundred years of art making by making daily pilgrimages to the city’s museums and other relevant sites.  In the process, we investigate the discipline of art history itself. 

Over the course of the three weeks, we spend extended time in the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and Monet’s gardens in Giverny, as well as other museums and temporary exhibitions. Past courses have taken us to the Musée Picasso, the Musée de l’Orangerie, the Musée Jacquemart-André, the Musée Marmottan Monet, the Musée des Arts Forains, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, the Grand Palais, the Palais de Toyko, the Jeu de Paume, and the Muséum National de l’Histoire Naturelle. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE POMPIDOU CENTRE IS CLOSING THIS WINTER, SO WE’LL FIND A WAY TO WORK AROUND.

Students can take this class as either Art History 173 or Art History 479 (MFA students welcome and encouraged). If you opt for the latter option, you will need to write an additional paper to satisfy the course requirements. There are no prerequisites for this class aside from curiosity, a willingness to take the readings and assignments seriously, and a sense of adventure.

You do not need to speak French to take this class. All readings, coursework, and discussion will be conducted in English.

A typical day might look something like this:

Thursday, Barbizon School and Realism  

Read: R11, Charles Baudelaire, "The Salon of 1846,” 1846 & R12, Excerpts from Petra Ten-Doesschate Chu, Letters of Gustave Courbet (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992)

Meet: 10:00 am, Musée d’Orsay, in front of the rhino

Agenda:

o   Musée d’Orsay, 10:15-12:00: Corot, Millet, and Courbet

o   12:00-1:30: Lunch Break

o   Musée d’Orsay, 1:30-3:30: Baudelaire, Haussmann, and Manet

Class typically runs from 10am until roughly 2pm, and we generally meet at the day’s museum. When you’re not in class, you are free to enjoy the pleasures of Paris. Because students share apartments, they often cook together in the evenings.

Although I remain in Paris for the duration of the class, you are free to travel on the weekends.