MA in Art History

Columbia's Department of Art History and Archaeology offers a free-standing MA in Art History degree in a wide range of fields from the Ancient period to the 19th century.

The program that leads to the terminal MA degree prepares students for doctoral study and careers in museums and art-related organizations. Recent graduates have entered PhD programs at universities such as Brown, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, CUNY Graduate Center, Oxford, and the University of Toronto. Others hold curatorial, research, collection and exhibition management, and educational positions at museums including the Cooper Hewitt, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Norton Simon Museum, as well as auction houses, art galleries, and foundations. 

The program is structured around 2 main axes: coursework and the MA thesis. All students must take a minimum of 10 courses, including the MA Methods Colloquium in their first semester, the Practices of Art History Colloquium in their second semester, and two sections of the MA thesis course in their final year. Students select their 6 remaining courses based on their individual scholarly interests.

The thesis is written under the supervision of a Faculty member specializing in the student's field of study. Applicants should consult the list of full-time Faculty to identify a potential advisor and it is recommended that they indicate their name in their application. The MA program director accepts advisees in 18th- and 19th-century European Art.

Students may enroll full-time or part-time. For full-time students, the duration of the program is 2 years. Part-time students may take up to 4 years to complete the program.

While Columbia MA and PhD students may enroll in the same graduate courses, recipients of the free-standing MA in Art History will be considered for admission to the PhD program only upon submission of a separate PhD application.

For students interested in studying modern and contemporary art, see MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History: Critical and Curatorial Studies (MODA).

In addition to the information provided on this website, prospective and current students may want to consult the MAAH Student Handbook.