Topic outline

  • Course Introduction

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    • Time: 31 hours
    • CEUs: 3.1
    • Free Certificate
    This course explores visual art forms and their cultural connections across historical periods, designed for students with little experience in the visual arts. It includes brief studies in art history and in-depth inquiry into the elements, media, and methods used in a range of creative processes. At the beginning of this course, we will study a five-step system for developing an understanding of visual art in all forms, based on:

    • Description: A work of art from an objective point of view – its physical attributes and formal construction.
    • Analysis: A detailed look at a work of art that combines physical attributes with subjective statements based on the viewer's reaction to the work.
    • Context: Historical, religious, or environmental information that surrounds a particular work of art and helps to understand the work's meaning.
    • Meaning: A statement of the work's content. A message or narrative to express the subject matter.
    • Judgment: A critical point of view about a work of art concerning its aesthetic or cultural value.


    After completing this course, you will be able to interpret works of art based on this five-step system, explain the processes involved in artistic production, identify the many kinds of issues that artists examine in their work, and explain the role and effect of the visual arts in different social, historical and cultural contexts.

    First, read the course syllabus. Then, enroll in the course by clicking "Enroll me". Click Unit 1 to read its introduction and learning outcomes. You will then see the learning materials and instructions on how to use them.

  • Unit 1: Defining Art

    How do we define art? For many people, art is a tangible thing: a painting, sculpture, photograph, dance, poem, or play. Art is uniquely human and tied directly to culture. As an expressive medium, art allows us to experience a wide range of emotions, such as joy or sorrow, confusion or clarity. Art gives voice to ideas and feelings, connects us to the past, reflects the present, and anticipates the future. Visual art is a rich and complex subject, and its definition is in flux as the culture around it changes. This unit examines how art is defined and the different ways it functions in societies and cultures.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.

    • 1.1: Introduction and Definitions

      First, we need to ground ourselves with some key concepts to define our area of study. What do we mean by art, what is and what is not art, and why? Can anything be art based on anyone's subjective opinion, or are there some objective features of art we can generally agree on? Since art is as old as human culture, we have developed many specialized terms associated with its study over time.

    • 1.2: Form and Content

      Our understanding of art and how we explain it consists of a few qualities. First, there are descriptions and analyses of the features of a work of art. These are based on the perceptual qualities of the artwork (such as the composition's colors, shapes, or contrasts), the material they are made of, and the methods used to produce them.

      Secondly, there are interpretive aspects that are informed by culture. These interpretations can be unique to a given person, group, or society. Since most humans perceive art similarly across populations (by using our eyes and ears), there can be quite broad agreement as to the perceptual and material aspects of art, since these can be objectively verified.

    • 1.3: Aesthetics

      It is hard to separate art from conversations about it, which are also called the "discourses" of art. Art is saturated with concepts, histories, schools, movements, linkages to the history of ideas, debates about the nature of beauty, or judgments about what makes art "good" or "bad". Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with matters related to art. This term is based on the ancient Greek word aesthesis, which means "sensory experience".

      As you might expect, different cultures have produced different discourses on aesthetics: for example, what might have been considered beautiful in Indian art 500 years ago will likely be very different from what was considered beautiful in the European Renaissance or a 20th-century postmodern exhibit. The development of ideas is inextricably linked to the movements of culture, and aesthetics is affected by variations across social geographies and throughout history.

    • 1.4: Subjective and Objective Perspectives

      Interpretations of art can be subjective. Art is often controversial, mysterious, socially significant, or personal. These interpretations depend on other factors, such as the cultural background of the artist or viewer, the use of symbolic material, or the artistic consumption habits of the audience.

      The perceptual and material dimensions – the objective aspects of an artwork are described as its form, whereas the interpretive (subjective) components are its content. These categories, form and content, derive from Greek antiquity, where philosophers distinguished between what something says (the content) and how something is said (its form).

    • 1.5: Artistic Roles

      Art performs certain common functions, such as recording faces and places – this will be familiar to anyone today who takes pictures with their smartphone. Images can also serve scientific purposes, such as capturing images of galaxies or microscopic organisms. Churches and temples are also full of artistic images that convey religious, mythical, and spiritual ideas.

    • 1.6: Artistic Categories

      Taking a broad view of the diversity of artistic practices, we can create categories of art that include art that is in the museums (such as paintings and sculptures), art we find on the streets (such as graffiti or billboards), art on our persons (such as jewelry, clothing, and fashion), and art in our homes (such as embroidery and rugs).

      Similarly, we can organize art into the categories of fine art, popular art, or decorative art, depending on the roles it fulfills along these social dimensions. We might consider a work of art important for cultural preservation and reflection (fine art), a type of popular communication (pop art), or a handicraft that ornaments or decorates items in our lives (decorative art).

    • 1.7: Artistic Styles

      We often expect art to depict something specific, such as when a portrait must resemble a certain person. We call this art's mimetic role, which comes from the Greek word mimesis and refers to creating a representation of something. But we also know that art often takes great creative liberties in representation. Many works impart all strong stylizations to the objects they represent. We call these artworks abstractions because their main goal is not to produce "accurate" mimesis. Finally, we have all experienced works of art that do not resemble anything at all from our everyday experiences. This kind of art may work with geometries, colors, or materials in ways that do not lend themselves to a clear interpretation. We call this kind of art non-objective because it foregoes any ties to objects we recognize.

    • 1.8: Cultural Styles

      With much artwork, you have a sense of its cultural background as soon as you see it. Sometimes a certain amount of expertise may be required. For example, something may seem "old and tribal" at first glance. You may not know what part of the world it is from until you read the description cards or consider the name of the museum wing it inhabits. Art embodies cultural values and beliefs. Cultures rely on their art as artifacts to serve as repositories for their values and beliefs. In this way, art and culture rely on each other for their full understanding.

    • 1.9: Perception and Visual Awareness

      We see biologically and neurologically – our eyes send information about the external world to the brain's visual processing centers. However, we also see things in personal ways informed by our social and cultural background. Both ways of seeing are important in art.

      For example, artists are highly sensitive to the nuances of form and color. They are also attuned to how certain audiences react to their work. Artists often purposely challenge our usual ways of seeing and looking to produce extraordinary effects we are not accustomed to.

    • Unit 1 Assessment

    • Testing Resource Types

  • Unit 2: Who Makes Art – Process and Training

    In this unit, we explore artistic processes in their social contexts, covering individual artists turning their ideas into works of art, forms of collaborative creative projects, public art, and the role of the viewer.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 1 hour.

    • 2.1: The Artistic Process

      Art does not emerge on its own; rather, it emerges within a larger social space that includes various people who perform specific roles that are part of the artistic endeavor or process.

      Curators, critics, gallery owners, and collectors are just as important as artists for an art world in the fullest sense. Institutions, such as art schools, publishers, and museums, outlive individuals and create a historical continuity of ideas and practices.

    • 2.2: The Individual Artist

      We often think of an artist as a lone, creative genius who does strange things in their studio, perhaps driven by intense psychological dramas. We can apply this description to many of the artists we read about or see in film throughout history. However, most artists are more like film producers or directors. They guide a process that several participants with specialized skills perform to realize the artistic endeavor. Instead of acting intuitively in wild fits of inspired creativity, most artists put considerable effort into the preliminary planning stages of their work, which ultimately shape what they will eventually produce.

    • 2.3: Artistic Training Methods

      Centuries ago, we thought of artists as craftspeople. Painters and sculptors were organized into guilds. Their place in society was similar to that of other craft workers, such as blacksmiths and stone masons.

      In many cultures, artists learned through apprenticeship methods. Art education eventually became a formal academic discipline. These institutions now produce newly-degreed artists every year. Many self-taught artists create their own informal and personalized learning programs, guided by their vision and passion.

    • 2.4: Art as a Social Activity

      As in the past, a single person does not usually create most of today's artworks. We immediately associate several art forms with large groups of people who are needed to complete them. Think of feature films or architecture. Artists must collaborate with non-artists, drawing members of the general public into their creative process.

    • Unit 2 Assessment

  • Unit 3: How Art Speaks – Finding Meaning

    Art asks us questions and conveys meaning. It expresses ideas, uncovers truths, manifests what is beautiful, and tells stories. In this unit, we begin to explore the meaning behind particular works of art within the context of various styles and cultures. We introduce the conceptual tools professional art critics use to interpret art. During this activity, you will provide your own interpretation of a piece of art. You should return to this activity after you have completed this course and review your response.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 1 hour.

    • 3.1: Objective vs. Subjective Meaning

      The distinction between subjective and objective information was key to the development of science and the philosophies that emerged during the Enlightenment (1685–1815). René Descartes (1596–1650), the French philosopher, clearly articulated this concept when he famously stated, "I think, therefore I am".

      We realize the objective dimension of the world through our senses and through instruments that measure our environment. For example, using methods such as carbon dating, we can analyze the pigments artists used when they created cave paintings and arrive at objective determinations about when they were produced. We can also agree that certain stylistic features belong to a particular period.

      The subjective dimension is less tangible and rooted in our personal experiences. We not only encounter art as raw sensory data. We also bring our own biases, expectations, needs, and prior art education when we formulate our judgments.

    • 3.2: The Four Levels of Meaning: Formal, Subject, Context, and Iconography

      When we see any object, we can immediately understand its form: the physical attributes of size, shape, and mass. With art, this may first appear simple: we can separate each artistic element and discover how the artist used it in their work. You practiced doing this in the last two units. The importance of this formal level of meaning is that it allows us to look at any artwork from an objective viewpoint.

      Artists use specific processes to create artwork to achieve a certain perceptual effect. Most artists are keenly aware of the material properties of the media they work with. They understand the objective qualities and anticipate the subjective responses people will likely experience as they view the work.

    • 3.3: Critical Perspectives

      Art criticism is part of the intellectual tradition in most cultures. Each tradition provides key concepts and methods of analysis.

      • Structural criticism considers art a system of elements composed together, like a language or set of repeating forms. Artworks include stable, recurring cultural codes that an art critic decodes.

      • Deconstructive criticism focuses on the differences among artworks that prevent them from forming stable structures of meaning.

      • Formalist criticism analyses art's material and perceptual attributes and associated experiences.

      • Ideological criticism seeks out power and social imbalances. For the artist, art perpetuates worldviews that need to be challenged.

      • Feminist criticism focuses on gender inequality and roots out forms of patriarchy that appear in art.

      • Psychoanalytic criticism traces the patterns of conflict between consciousness and the unconscious and seeks aspects of personality in the art that are beyond subjective control and which subvert social personas.

    • Unit 3 Assessment

  • Unit 4: How Art Works – The Principles of Visual Language

    In this unit, we study the terms used to describe and analyze any work of art. We will explore the principles of design – how the artist arranges and orchestrates the elements they use. Just as spoken language is based on phonemes, syntax, and semantics, visual art is based on elements and principles that, when used together, create works that communicate ideas and meaning to the viewer. We can think of them as the building blocks of an artwork's composition – the organized layout of an image or object according to the principles of design.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.

    • 4.1: The Basic Elements

      When we consider art's formal aspect (materials, the methods used to work them, and their perceptual effects), we can distinguish the basic units (called elements) from the various principles used to combine elements. Elements proceed from the simple to the complex: from a point to a line, to a planar shape, to mass, to a figure or ground distinctions, and so on. In a given work of art, these fundamental formal units relate to one another on a second, higher level.

      Artists arrange them according to design principles, such as balance, repetition, emphasis, unity, variety, etc. The key point to understand here is that there is a fundamental conceptual distinction between simpler formal elements and the general rules or patterns for how they are combined, which we call the principles of design.

    • 4.2: Space, Value, Color, and Texture

      In this section, we introduce the various kinds of space that artists represent in their works and the different perspective techniques they use to create the illusion of space on a two-dimensional (2D) surface.

      Space is an intuitive concept in many ways – after all, we experience everything in some kind of space. In art, however, space is built according to specific techniques and intentions. Space is also a cultural variable. Some cultural contexts are less interested in the accurate modeling of real space and more interested in psychological rendering.

    • 4.3: The Principles of Design

      Now let's explore the artistic principles or how an artist arranges and orchestrates the elements in a work of art. These elements include visual balance, repetition, scale and proportion, emphasis, time and motion, unity, and variety.

    • Unit 4 Assessment