Art History

Much of the knowledge and information produced in the 21st century is communicated through images. Studying art history provides students with the skills to critically analyze and comprehend the visual arguments conveyed in these images. Art history also provides students with the tools necessary to communicate this understanding in coherent written and verbal forms.

Studying art history allows students to engage with the ways in which people in the past and present - patrons, artists, users, and viewers - have created and employed images and to what ends. Indeed, students of art history study works of art that embody the most important ideas and cherished aspirations of cultures through time and across the globe. As a result, they gain a deeper understanding of a global, and multicultural, past and present.

In studying art history, students consider how scholars and others have thought about a given work and are asked to find their place in that discussion. In the art history classroom, we carefully look at images and analyze them, research the cultures in which they were produced, and make arguments about their meanings and impact.
 

• Students will broaden their perspectives and ways of thinking through the study of a variety of works of art and architecture produced in different cultures and at different times.
• Through carefully looking at works of art and architecture, students will learn to dedicate the patient, sustained effort necessary to come to an understanding of an object on its own terms."¨
• Through the study of works of art and architecture, students will learn to move beyond subjective response to develop an informed understanding of something outside their knowledge and experience."¨
• Through visual analysis students will be able to comprehend and articulate the logic of the formal, spatial, material, and technical elements of a work of art or architecture."¨
• Through contextual analysis, students will know how to develop an interpretative project by:
  • Critically assessing the art historical literature"¨.
  • Identifying the subject of the work of art and exploring its meanings"¨.
  • Situating the work in its context of production and reception"¨.
• Students will be able to place works of art and architecture within the history of art."¨
• Students will learn to critically assess disciplinary definitions, interpretive methods, and historical explanations of works of art and architecture."¨
• Students will be able to craft lucid historical arguments in dialogue with the larger disciplinary tradition."¨
   

• Common Application or QuestBridge Application
• Swarthmore College Short Answer
  • As part of the Common Application, you will be asked to submit no more than 250 words in response to a short answer question (QuestBridge applicants are asked the same question on our Swarthmore-QuestBridge Intent to Apply form). For the 2022-2023 admissions cycle, students will be asked to choose one of the following three questions:
    • Swarthmore students’ worldviews are often forged by their prior experiences and exposure to ideas and values. Our students are often mentored, supported, and developed by their immediate context—in their neighborhoods, communities of faith, families, and classrooms. Reflect on what elements of your home, school, or community have shaped you or positively impacted you. How have you grown or changed because of the influence of your community?
    • We are inspired by students who are flexible in their approach to learning, who are comfortable with experimentation, and who are willing to take intellectual risks that move them out of their comfort zone. Reflect on a time that you were intellectually challenged, inspired, or took an intellectual risk—inside or outside of the classroom. How has that experience shaped you, and what questions still linger?
    • Why are you interested in applying to and attending Swarthmore?
• $60 application fee or fee waiver*
• School report
• School counselor recommendation
• High school transcript
• Midyear grades: If your school does not have midyear grades, please provide a midyear progress report from your teachers.
• Two academic-subject teacher recommendations/evaluations

Applying via the Common Application

You can easily add Swarthmore to your list of colleges in the Common Application.

In addition to the Common Application's personal statement (you can choose one of seven essay prompts), we ask you to submit no more than 250 words in response to a short answer question. For the 2022-2023 admissions cycle, students will be asked to choose one of the following three questions: 

• Swarthmore students’ worldviews are often forged by their prior experiences and exposure to ideas and values. Our students are often mentored, supported, and developed by their immediate context—in their neighborhoods, communities of faith, families, and classrooms. Reflect on what elements of your home, school, or community have shaped you or positively impacted you. How have you grown or changed because of the influence of your community?
• We are inspired by students who are flexible in their approach to learning, who are comfortable with experimentation, and who are willing to take intellectual risks that move them out of their comfort zone. Reflect on a time that you were intellectually challenged, inspired, or took an intellectual risk—inside or outside of the classroom. How has that experience shaped you, and what questions still linger?
• Why are you interested in applying to and attending Swarthmore?