BA Art History at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Programme overview

The Art History major provides a foundation for answering key questions about what it means to be human as well as valuable skills for today’s workplaces. A specialized focus on images, objects, and the built environment promotes critical and creative approaches to analysis, problem-solving, writing and visual communication in a variety of media. Interdisciplinary collaborations encourage aesthetic, historical, economic, and ethical questions in order to produce new knowledge, sophisticated readers, engaged writers, critical viewers, independent thinkers, and confident cultural citizens who are well prepared to thrive in global society.

Faculty: College of Letters & Science | Department: Art History | Duration: 120 credits | Study mode: full-time | Location: Madison, WI, United States

What you will study

The degree requires 120 credits in total. Courses listed in the requirements include ART HIST 102 Seeing Through Conspiracy Theories; ART HIST 106 Have Brush, Will Travel: The Italian Renaissance from Florence to Rome; ART HIST 107 The Body, Sex, & Health in Art; ART HIST 130 Seeing Race: Anti-Racism and Visual Culture; ART HIST 201 History of Western Art I: From Pyramids to Cathedrals; ART HIST 202 History of Western Art II: From Renaissance to Contemporary.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Applies to College of Letters & Science, not specific to this major: No application required. All students who meet the requirements listed below are eligible to declare. For information on how to declare, visit Advising & Careers. Courses required to get in None GPA requirements to get in None Credits required to get in None Other None

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

First-year entry terms: Fall (Early Action and Regular Decision) and Spring. Transfer entry terms: Fall (Priority and Regular Decision) and Spring.

First-year Fall Early Action: application deadline November 1, materials deadline November 9, decision on or before January 31. Fall Regular Decision: application deadline January 15, materials deadline January 22, decision on or before March 31. Spring Regular Decision: application deadline October 1, materials deadline October 15, decision on or before December 31. First-year fall and spring applications open August 1. Early Action is non-binding.

Transfer Fall Priority: application deadline February 1, materials deadline February 16, decision on or before March 31. Fall Regular: application deadline March 1, materials deadline March 15, decision on or before April 30. Spring Regular: application deadline October 1, materials deadline October 15, decision on or before December 31. Fall transfer applications open December 1; spring transfer applications open August 1.

Apply via the Common Application or the Universities of Wisconsin Application. The application fee is $80 US and is non-refundable; fee waivers are available for applicants with financial hardship. ACT and SAT scores are optional for students applying for admission through the spring 2028 term (application deadline October 1, 2027).

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