Art History

Art History at Bowdoin offers courses that examine artworks in their historical, social, religious, and philosophical contexts. By learning what to ask of art, students build interpretations rooted in both specific histories of a particular time and place and within broader systems of cultural connection, conflict, migration, and resistance.

Art History also offers students a critical lens for interrogating the structures and assumptions that have determined “who is an artist” and “what counts as Art.” By challenging inherited categories and canons, Art History students at Bowdoin question the exclusionary frameworks that have privileged some while marginalizing others. Through our classes, students learn a rich array of approaches for understanding how images, objects, and their histories produce meanings that fundamentally shape how we engage with the world.

Student Research Campus Collections

Student Opportunities Alumni and Careers

Visual Arts
Digital & Computational Studies

Upcoming Events

How Nazi Germany’s Built Environment and Genocide Were Linked
Duke University’s Paul Jaskot continues the Bowdoin College Holocaust Education Lecture Series with a look at how Nazi Germany’s genocidal plans were inextricably linked with the regime’s architectural policy.
Babylon Berlin: How a TV Series Is Inspiring Scholars
Bowdoin’s Jill Smith, a scholar of twentieth-century German culture, coedits an anthology of essays unpacking the themes explored in the hit TV show Babylon Berlin.
Bowdoin’s Brennan and Perkinson on the Humanities, Practical Application of Invaluable Tools in “Inside Higher Ed”
The value and benefits of a liberal arts education steeped in the humanities has worthy champions in Kristin Brennan, executive director of Bowdoin’s Office of Career Exploration and Development (CXD), and Stephen Perkinson, professor of art history.