Laurence Shafe’s free online art history courses are available here and on YouTube with full lecture notes in PDF format.

Past Lectures and Courses lists all the courses and lectures I have given recently with class notes.

I have a doctorate in art history from Bristol University and studied nineteenth-century British and French art at the Courtauld Institute but my talks are wider ranging. Each one typically discusses between 20 and 30 artworks and I cover a wide range of historical periods and artists. In 2023, I decided to start a mammoth project to create a chronological series of talks on the history of Western art.

I am a Tate Guide and I have prepared twelve guided tours of both Tate Britain and Tate Modern although since then Tate Britain has had a major rehang. I recommend visiting the Tate and going on one of these tours. They are held at regular times during that day by a wide range of expert guides, they are free, you may join and leave a tour at any point and you do not need to book in advance, just turn up.

The section of this website called Art History provides a brief introduction to the subject based on my undergraduate notes and ‘Jump to a Page‘ provides an alphabetic list of all the 940 pages.

My biography is on the About page and includes links to the essays and dissertations I wrote as a student from undergraduate level to my doctorate. If you would like to comment on the site or contact me please use the Contact page or the comment section at the bottom of most pages.