Study Abroad in London

Creating the global leaders of tomorrow’s art world and the creative industries.

Since 1969, Sotheby’s Institute of Art has offered postgraduate programs that combine cutting-edge teaching with business acumen and insider access to the art world. Study Abroad extends that opportunity to undergraduate students worldwide, and provides opportunities for students who wish to explore the art world at the heart of a global cultural capital, London.

Study Abroad students will gain a deep understanding of the art world, its museums and collections, dealers and auction houses, public and commercial galleries. Combining a global perspective on contemporary visual culture with matchless access to industry experiences, students will be equipped with the intellectual and professional skills that will benefit them both in their future employment and complement their studies at their home institution.

The course descriptions below offer an overview of our current catalog. Please note that not all courses may be available each term.

The Global Art Market This foundational course uncovers the art world ecosystem, introducing the key concepts, individuals, and business models that underpin the global art market and wider creative economy. Exclusive access to individuals and institutions within the art world is a crucial learning tool for this course. Includes field trips to Sotheby’s auction house.
Faculty: Ed Leeson

Exploring Collections, Exploding Canons This course takes a critical look at the Western tradition of art history through a range of London and UK art collections, and engages with some of the key contemporary cultural debates around the politics of collecting and display. This includes decolonisation, gender, and the future of monuments in the museums and cultural heritage sector. Includes fields trip to The British Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The National Gallery, London.
Faculty: Catherine McCormack

Digital Futures in Contemporary Art This course introduces the dynamic discourse at the intersection of art and technology. It examines the fast-evolving digital world and how it is reshaping art practice, the international art market, and the curatorial field. Includes field trips to contemporary art galleries and dealers and a digital studio.
Faculty: Jamie Sutcliffe

Hogarth to Himid: Histories of British Art This course provides a survey of British art spanning from the seventeenth century to the present day, beginning with the of the establishment of a British school of painting in the early eighteenth century amid the backdrop of empire and the formation of the Royal Academy in 1768, before focusing on modern and contemporary artistic practice.
Faculty: Catherine McCormack

Contemporary Art and Global Feminisms Starting with Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’, this course will consider the key global currents of fifty years of feminist art around a number of themes. These include feminist art about the body and sexuality, women’s domestic labour, feminist approaches to identity, motherhood and childcare, violence against women, feminism, and the art historical canon.
Faculty: Catherine McCormack

The Curator Academy With a project-oriented focus, this unit will equip students with the contextual knowledge and practical skills to plan, develop, and deliver a curatorial project. Topics will include the curator as auteur, facilitator, mediator and project manager as well as contemporary curatorial approaches and research methodology.
Faculty: Amy Mechowski

Creative Business Accelerator In this unit, students will learn to develop and present a business plan for a commercial or social enterprise within the creative economy. Students will gain a range of sought-after hard and soft skills, across five key areas: market analysis, product or service design, branding, assessing resources, and an in-depth financial forecasting.
Faculty: Ed Leeson