The Department of Art and Art History explores the world through art, design, and visual culture. We pursue creative work in the studio and the gallery, through scholarship and curatorial practice. Our students learn to examine the past and shape the future by engaging the material and visual languages with which humans make meaning.
Learn More About Our Degree Programs
Our disciplines embody Georgetown University’s dedication to creating and communicating knowledge. Art connects a multitude of histories, beliefs, politics, economic systems, and environments across a range of media. Understanding a visually mediated society—from handmade objects to the digital screen—is crucial to to citizenship in the 21st century. In a landscape defined by ever-greater arrays of visual information, the ability to critically discern what we see is more important than ever. In our courses, students develop vital habits of mind by closely engaging objects, making things, and grappling with ideas forged around the world over many centuries.
Learn About our Programs
Each of our programs is known for small class sizes and experiential learning—making in the studio or lab, digging in the archive, parsing works in the classroom, interning at museums, collaborating with our galleries, or curating shows. Students in Art & Art History develop skills needed for a range of creative industries and the critical facility that is the hallmark of humanistic education. Those in our majors, minors, and MA program benefit from sustained mentorship in the related fields of art & design, historical research, critical writing, and museum studies.
Washington’s extraordinary museums are an extension of our classroom—from internships and seminar meetings to independent research and learning from the built environment. Closer to home, our Maria and Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery and Lucille M. and Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Gallery bring world-class contemporary art to Georgetown, allowing students to work and learn alongside professionals in the field.
Recent Exhibitions Undergraduate InternshipsIn the News
Concealed to Revealed: Confronting Racist Imagery in Museum Collections
On November 12th, 2024, the Art & Museum Studies Program in partnership with Tudor Place hosted Concealed to Revealed: Confronting Racist Imagery in Museum Collection. This panel discussion was…
November 13, 2024
Announcements, In the News, News
March 29, 2023
Announcements, In the News, News
31st Annual Misty Dailey Awards — Now accepting applications!
February 27, 2023
Opening Reception for Spring 2025 Exhibitions | Georgetown University Art GalleriesJan. 17
