French and History of Art
French and history of art is a pairing that brings together two disciplines connected by their shared engagement with French and European culture across time. French opens the literature, cinema, philosophy and contemporary life of one of the world's great languages and cultures, providing both linguistic fluency and cultural depth across France and the wider Francophone world. History of art develops the skills and frameworks for engaging with visual works, from painting and sculpture to architecture and the decorative arts, examining not just what images look like but what they mean in their historical and cultural contexts.
France has been at the centre of Western art history for centuries, making the combination particularly coherent.
At the University of Aberdeen this programme runs across five years of full-time study, providing a thorough grounding in both a modern European language and the history of art, architecture and curation across a wide range of media and techniques. You will develop French language skills to a high level alongside the specialist and analytical skills of art historical study. The programme is delivered at a university with a strong reputation for student satisfaction in art history, and you will develop skills in close visual analysis, archival research, curatorial thinking and critical writing alongside your linguistic competence.
Graduates with French and history of art have a distinctive combination of language ability and visual cultural expertise that is valued in galleries, museums, auction houses, arts administration, heritage bodies, journalism, publishing and cultural diplomacy. Many go on to postgraduate study in art history, curatorial practice, conservation, French studies or cultural heritage management, where the combination of language and disciplinary knowledge opens specialist research and professional pathways. The international dimension of the French language means graduates can pursue careers across the Francophone world as well as in UK cultural institutions.