Black and white film still of a film crew on location at an urban street corner, surrounded by onlookers and police officers.
Visual Arts professor Beverly McIver with a Duke undergraduate student in the painting studio at Smith Warehouse, Duke University

About Us

The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies has three distinct parts: Visual Arts, Art History and Visual & Media Studies. But all of our faculty and students – undergraduate and graduate alike – are engaged in international research, interdisciplinary learning, and the study of visual culture across geographic and historical categories, through the perspectives of theory and practice, methodology and criticism, and digital technologies.

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AAHVS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives

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Undergraduate Program

The historical study of art, architecture, and visual culture provides the understanding and the language necessary for analyzing images, objects and buildings, and for recognizing and theorizing their social impact.

With our 8 majors and 6 minors, we offer undergraduate students an extensive program that develops their critical-thinking and visual skills, appeals to their passions, and helps prepare them for their eventual careers.

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Featured Courses

Featured Course
ARTSVIS 390S

Making Art in the Anthropocene: addressing social and ecological crises through artistic media | This course focuses on bridging the gap between scientific research and the production of artistic… read more about Special Topics in Visual Arts »

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Graduate Programs

We currently offer a Ph.D. program in Art History and Visual Culture, and Master's programs in Digital Art History and Computational Media.

We also participate in an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Computational Media, Arts & Cultures – co-sponsored by the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, the Program in Literature, the Franklin Humanities Institute, and the Information Science + Studies certificate program – and many of our faculty are involved in the MFA in Experimental & Documentary Arts.

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Degrees & Affiliated Degrees
19
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Courses Available
480+
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Faculty Members
40+

Spotlighted Faculty & Student Projects