You've discovered Art History.
Now build your future.
Art History at Queen’s helps students turn their curiosity — or passion — about art, museums, and visual culture into a degree that is flexible, hands-on, and connected to real opportunities. Students explore global art histories through direct engagement with collections, curatorial practice, internships, the , and an internationally recognized network of faculty and professionals. Along the way, they develop research, writing, analytical, and cultural skills that are valued across many fields.
A Major or Minor in Art History also combines exceptionally well with other degrees and disciplines, giving students the freedom to build an interdisciplinary path that reflects their interests and ambitions. With its flexible structure, the program opens pathways into some of the most dynamic areas of cultural life today, from art law and restitution to conservation science, AI and digital heritage, galleries and auction houses, museums, public policy, education, and cultural leadership. To see where those paths can lead, meet some of our alumni.
Whether paired with law, business, chemistry, global development, environmental studies, languages, computer science, or another field, Art History gives students the freedom to shape a degree and a future that is intellectually ambitious, professionally versatile, and relevant to a changing world.
UNESCO identifies the cultural and creative industries as among the fastest-growing sectors in the world, underscoring the growing importance of cultural literacy, creativity, and critical interpretation in today’s economy.
A Distinctive Degree: Shared Foundations, Flexible Pathways.
Art History at Queen’s offers both intellectual range and the freedom to build a degree around your own interests. Students explore global art histories, museums and curatorial practice, architecture, photography, design, heritage, conservation, technical and digital art research, and contemporary visual culture, while developing a pathway that can connect powerfully with other fields. It is a degree that is broad, flexible, and deeply relevant to the world students will enter.
Just as important, Art History at Queen’s is a community. Students learn alongside curious, ambitious, creative, and socially engaged peers, taught by internationally recognized faculty whose teaching connects big questions about art, history, and culture to the close study of images, objects, collections, and institutions. It is a place to think seriously, work closely, and imagine many different futures.
Learn more about the Art History major, minor, and specialization degree plans.
Learn more about the types of Art History classes offered.
Your Path Through Art History
Your path through Art History at Queen’s begins with a shared foundation in global art histories and an introduction to the art world — its institutions, professions, and the many ways art is curated, collected, and brought into public life. From there, students broaden through discovery, move into distinctive pathways of their own, and graduate with specialized knowledge, close mentorship, and a strong foundation for careers, cultural leadership, and graduate study.
For more details, see the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
In first year, students build their foundation through ARTH 121: Global Art Histories and ARTH 122: Curating Art Worlds, gaining a broad introduction to art across time and place while also learning how museums, exhibitions, and the wider art world operate. Students are introduced to many distinguished guest speakers and industry experts, giving them an early sense of the many professional worlds outside the university connected to art history. Beyond the classroom, they can attend openings, lectures, and workshops, explore non-credit studio art courses, and connect with creative, socially minded, and interesting people who help make Queen’s a vibrant place to study art and visual culture.
End of year one: Choose a Specialization (60-units), Major (48-units), Minor (24-units), or the Computing and the Creative Arts Specialization (60-units).
In second year, students begin to discover the breadth of Art History through a wide range of courses from medieval to contemporary and spanning Europe, the Americas, Africa, Islamic, South Asian, Indigenous, and other global traditions. As they pursue interests in craft histories, photography, architecture, digital visual culture, and technical approaches to art, they gain a clearer sense of the field’s scope, themes, and relevance. For many, this is the year when certain ideas, methods, and pathways begin to come into focus, including futures in conservation, museums and galleries, and the wider cultural sector. Many students also deepen their involvement in volunteering, leadership, and campus life.
In third year, Art History students begin to define a more distinctive pathway through advanced courses, closer engagement with collections, and signature opportunities such as ARTH 380: Venice and Its Biennale. They may also pursue ARTH 395: Art History Internship at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre or with one of many host institutions across Canada. The curriculum expands into thematic areas such as art forgeries, ecocriticism, urbanism, and medical humanities, while also supporting deeper study in particular historical or global fields. For many students, this is the stage when professional pathways come into focus—when connections between Art History and other fields become clear, from chemistry for conservation or heritage science to languages for area expertise, business and economics for gallery and market work, and other combinations that support a wide range of futures.
In fourth year, students bring their studies into sharp focus through specialized seminars, close work with objects and collections, and advanced engagement with the methods and technologies shaping the field today. Small classes and close cohorts create an intellectually ambitious, supportive environment in which mentorship, alumni workshops, networking, and career guidance are part of the experience. Through an honours thesis, a Summer Research Fellowship, or another substantial research project, students can push their work further, deepen their expertise, and often travel in the process. For those considering graduate study, we work closely with students to support that transition and help them prepare for the next stage of academic life, whether at Queen’s or elsewhere. The result is a final year that brings knowledge, confidence, and direction together—launching students toward careers, cultural leadership, or further study, wherever they want to go.
Shape Your Degree, Expand Your Future.
Art History at Queen’s gives students the freedom to build a degree that is both intellectually distinctive and professionally versatile. With options for a 48-unit major, 24-unit minor, and 60-unit specialization, students have real room to combine Art History with other fields, or a certificate in Law or Business, to create an interdisciplinary path that reflects their interests, ambitions, and career goals. Independent labour market data from the place Art History among the top 25 majors for mid-career earnings, suggesting the long-term value of a degree that opens multiple pathways while developing skills—research, writing, analysis, and cultural fluency—that deepen in value over time.
For distinctive career pathways, consider combining Art History with:
- Law or policy — for students interested in art law, copyright, cultural property, and restitution
- Business or economics — for futures in galleries, auction houses, arts administration, and cultural leadership within a growing cultural and creative economy
- Chemistry and STEM — for pathways into the expanding fields of conservation, heritage science, technical art history, forensics, and beyond
- Computer science — for digital heritage, AI, and new forms of analysis in rapidly growing technology fields
- Languages, classics, humanities, and the creative arts — for international research, archaeological and Mediterranean studies, university research, and global cultural work
- Global development, sociology, or environmental studies — for students interested in cultural policy, advocacy, NGOs, sustainable heritage, and international heritage
The result is a degree students can actively shape around their goals while building a strong, adaptable, and future-facing foundation.
estimated the growing global art market at $59.6 billion in 2025.
Why Art History at ³ÉÈË´óƬ?
The Queen’s Advantage.
What makes the Queen’s experience distinctive is the chance to study art within an exceptional network of museums, collections, archives, laboratories, and international opportunities. From first year onward, students learn with internationally recognized faculty whose work spans exhibitions, museum partnerships, and innovative research across five continents, allowing them to encounter new scholarship as it emerges. Queen’s stands out not simply for what students study, but for the access it gives them to collections, institutions, technologies, and professional communities that bring the field to life.
The Queen’s Advantage in Practice.
Students work closely with the Agnes, its staff, and its collections through courses, internships, volunteer roles, and employment opportunities, including the Bader Collection of European Art, the Lang Collection of African Art, modern and contemporary art, Indigenous arts, textiles, and other important holdings. ARTH460: Curatorial Studies occurs inside the Agnes, as students develop curatorial problems and skills.
ARTH 380: Venice and Its Biennale is a signature four-week, internship-based experience in Venice, including course-credit work at the Canada Pavilion during the Biennale in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada.
- Work Integrated Learning: collections, archives, and curatorial practice
Students gain hands-on experience through the student-run , , and , building skills in exhibitions, collections research, and public-facing work, through ARTH 395: Art History Internship, volunteering, research projects, or employment.
- Kingston’s wider cultural ecosystem
Queen’s is connected to a vibrant network of local cultural institutions, including and the , creating additional opportunities for collaboration, community engagement, and professional experience.
- Technical art history, digital humanities, and conservation pathways
Through the Queen’s University Mobile Laboratory for Technical Art History (QUMoLTAH), students can explore object-based research using infrared photography, X-ray imaging, macrophotography, and other analytical approaches to cultural heritage — and gain a pathway into art conservation and conservation science careers.
- Heritage, architecture, and digital documentation
Students can train on-site with advanced tools for the study of , including LiDAR and drone photogrammetry for heritage preservation, and .
- Interdisciplinary research opportunities
Queen’s also offers students the chance to connect Art History to other fields through initiatives such as Medical Humanities research in partnership with the , and media-focused work with the .
Students join a wide alumni network of many hundreds of graduates who hold leading roles across the cultural sector, from Christie’s in New York to the Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam, the National Gallery of Canada, and museums, galleries, and auction houses around the world.
Meeting global challenges through Art History.
Art History is not only a pathway to careers; it is also a way of understanding, and helping to shape, a changing world. By combining creativity, cultural literacy, historical perspective, and critical analysis, the field prepares students to think seriously about the forces shaping public life today. In a world marked by environmental crisis, conflict, displacement, inequality, misinformation, and digital transformation, technical skill alone is not enough: societies also need people who can understand how culture, art, and institutions shape values, identities, and collective life. UNESCO increasingly frames culture as central to sustainable development because it strengthens education, social cohesion, heritage protection, public life, and creative economies. At Queen’s, Art History offers that broader perspective through global study, hands-on learning, and direct engagement with art and cultural institutions, helping students build meaningful futures while contributing to a more just, resilient, and sustainable world.
Culture and the UNSDGSs
UNESCO
Choose Your Future
From museums and galleries to law, journalism, conservation, education, and cultural policy, Art History at Queen’s gives students the knowledge, experience, and flexibility to build a wide range of futures.
Computing and the Creative Arts Specialization (60-units)