DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
EUR 8,000 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* per year. Scholarships available covering both tuition fees and living expenses.
Introduction
The MA in Arts and Culture at Leiden University offers two specialisations: Art History and Museum Studies.
Why study Arts and Culture at Leiden University
A unique programme in terms of its diverse and interdisciplinary range of subjects, the Arts and Culture master's programme offers you the choice of two specializationsprogramprogram: Art History and Museum Studies. Each explores different themes from a comparative and global perspective and offers a broad range of electives, allowing you to further customize your degree. We encourage every student to pursue the academic areas they are passionate about.
What will you study
This programme will give you a comprehensive grounding in the history, methods, and theories of art history and museology, while also engaging with contemporary museum practice. The two specializationsprogramprogram, in our programme, Art History and Museum Studies, will cut across disciplinary boundaries while making it possible for you to steer toward one of the fields according to your interests. There is an emphasis on the study of the object and its agency; critical theory and world art studies; and museum and collection studies. Possible paths lead through the late medieval and early modern period, to contemporary art and the digital age, as well as cultures of collecting and the museum in past and present times.
Curriculum
The programme contains two advanced courses giving you a grounding in both art history and museology:
- Core Course I lets you reflect critically on the role of collections and institutions while offering theories of interpretation and strategies for engaging with artworks.
- Core Course II teaches you to think and write about the current practices in art exhibition from a transhistorical and global perspective.
You will also be given the opportunity to start specializing in a particular research area by choosing from a wide range of optional modules dedicated to specific periods and topics such as: fine and decorative arts, heritage studies, anthropology, memory studies, ethics, new media and the digital humanities.
Admissions
Gallery
Career Opportunities
Where do our graduates work?
Our Arts and Culture graduates are currently working with companies including Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder, Sdu Publishers, Valiz publishers, Primavera Press, the Repeat Group, Gavelers Auctioneers and Lyppens, and at art venues such as BAK Utrecht and museums including the Haags Gemeentemuseum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden.
Examples of the diverse roles of our graduates include:
- Curator at a museum
- Collections manager at a natural history museum
- Project officer for heritage at a government agency
- Art teacher at a secondary school
- Auctioneer at an online auction house
- Research consultant at a recruitment company
- Teacher of art and theory at an art school
- Freelance artist and illustrator
- Newspaper critic
- Director of a publishing company
- PhD candidate