Art Appreciation: Highlights of Tate Britain

Get closer to the national collection at Tate Britain, a renowned collection of art from the 16th century to the present day. Exploring a range of paintings, sculptures, works on paper, film and digital art, we consider how artworks have been acquired for the collection. This course encourages you to develop confidence and visual literacy skills when looking and discussing artworks. We explore how selected historical, modern and contemporary works reflect on the broader cultural and social contexts in which they were produced. We explore how artworks help to tell the story of British history, starting with portraits produced by British and European artists after the Reformation; and continuing with history paintings, landscape, portraiture and other genre paintings and sculptures up to the Industrial Revolution. Going into the 20th and 21st centuries, we consider how new forms of artists challenged traditional art forms through their use of new forms of media and subjects. Throughout the course we also identity how artists from earlier periods have influenced the work of following generations. We consider also how the current Tate Britain displays reflect over 50% of female artists from the Collection, an important step for equity and representation in this famous collection.