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Undergraduate Programs
Explore the programs offered by this organization.
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The Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University is a vibrant center for creative practice, critical inquiry, and historical study. Housed in the acclaimed, state-of-the-art McMurtry Building, the department serves as a collaborative incubator where the making of art and the study of visual culture are deeply integrated.
Our programs span four distinct yet interconnected pathways: Art History, Art Practice, Film and Media Studies, and Documentary Film. By positioning creative studios alongside classrooms of historical and theoretical analysis, we foster an environment where visual literacy, technological experimentation, and critical thinking flourish. The department prepares students for impactful global careers as artists, filmmakers, scholars, curators, and cultural leaders.
In an era defined by a dramatic "visual turn" across both the humanities and the sciences, Art History teaches students how to critically analyze and interpret the images, objects, and environments that shape human experience. Our curriculum spans from antiquity to the contemporary moment, examining fine arts, photography, digital media, material culture, and the built environment across diverse global cultures.
At the undergraduate level, students develop advanced skills in cultural analysis and historical interpretation. At the graduate level, our highly selective Ph.D. Program in Art History offers candidates the opportunity to work intensively with individual faculty mentors while pursuing collaborative research across other graduate departments and interdisciplinary programs at Stanford.
The Art Practice program provides a rigorous, production-based education rooted in the concepts, skills, and diverse perspectives of contemporary art. Through hands-on exploration of diverse media—including painting, sculpture, photography, digital media, and printmaking—students learn to balance conceptual depth with technical craft.
Undergraduates are encouraged to pursue cross-disciplinary collaborations with scientists, engineers, and humanities scholars to address urgent contemporary questions. The M.F.A. Program in Art Practice is a demanding graduate pathway that selects candidates of exceptional promise, challenging them to refine their unique artistic voices within the intellectually rich context of a major research university.
Moving images are among the most powerful modes of communication and social influence in the modern world. The undergraduate major in Film and Media Studies introduces students to film aesthetics, global cinematic history, screenwriting, and the evolution of digital media, providing them with the critical vocabulary to understand cinema's role in shaping culture.
At the graduate level, the M.F.A. in Documentary Film and Video is an elite, cohort-based terminal degree program. Grounded in a philosophy of independent media, social awareness, and artistic expression, this rigorous two-year curriculum combines practical production training with advanced historical and critical analysis, preparing graduates to become professional filmmakers and university-level educators.
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