Forget doom scrolling, Art History is the best way for Gen Z to embrace visual culture
This week's leader looks at how studying Art History can better help today's youth to understand the world they live in.
We still do some things well in this country and teaching History of Art is one of them. The subject is offered at more than 100 British universities and, according to the latest independent QS World University Rankings, which compares and rates universities around the world by subject, four of those sit in the global top 10.
In the top spot is the Courtauld Institute of Art, an independent college within the University of London, which boasts the largest faculty of art historians and conservators in the UK and has long been the de rigueur institution for professional art historians. Then come University College London (at three), the Royal College of Art (four) and Cambridge (eight), with Oxford at number 11.
Works by David Hockey, who sadly passed this month, are just some of the pieces that can by studied by History of Art students.
'Over the past decade, the number of schools offering History of Art at A level has fallen by 34%'
Henry Moore Foundation are responsible for this piece, titled 'Three Piece Reclining Figure Draped', located in a sheep field. It shows how art can be percieved differntly depending on its location.
Alas, according to the Courtauld’s own research, this picture is less glowing in British schools, where the story is one of decline. Over the past decade, the number of schools offering History of Art at A level has fallen by 34% — from 122 in 2016 to a meagre 80 today — and of those only 19 are state or non-fee-paying schools.
Depressingly, the subject is offered only in England, with participating schools concentrated in London and the South-East, which means great swathes of British schoolchildren are excluded. This should come as no surprise; the humanities are under pressure in today’s narrowly focused, STEM-oriented education system.
Nevertheless, young people live in a predominantly visual culture, saturated with images on mobile-phone screens, and social-media apps such as Instagram prove that aesthetics — or at least personal aesthetics — matter to them. What art history can teach them is how to decode images, how to understand them and how today’s visual culture, and their response to it, came about. That might not seem sufficient on its own, but art history is not simply about art. Any half-diligent student will do more than look at paintings, sculpture and their makers.
'Pot of Primroses and Fruit', 1888-1890 by Paul Cézanne. The artist is a popular one to study among History of Art students.
'The Annunciation', a tempera painting by Botticelli.
The works of Leonardo and Peter Paul Rubens, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Henry Moore, Cézanne and David Hockney, who sadly died this month, are the products of particular moments in time and to understand them fully — or as fully as is possible — knowledge of their cultural and historical context is as vital as the niceties of brushstrokes and themes. To study art history is to study history, literature, music, biography, philosophy... an all-round education, illustrated by great paintings.
Art history has economic benefits, too. As a House of Lords report said recently, the music, performing and visual-arts sector is worth £11.2 billion a year to the UK economy. Our museums, galleries and libraries employ 91,000 people and our commercial art market is the second largest in the world. There is more to Botticelli and his ilk than beauty — here’s hoping the Government takes notice.
This feature originally appeared in the June 17, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe
