Curated Guides > Syllabus > AP®︎ Art History
AP®︎ Art History
Below are short videos, essays, high-resolution photographs, and additional resources for each of the 250 required works of art that form the central curriculum for the AP®︎ Art History course. These works of art were selected by the College Board because they "represent foundational exemplars of global artistic traditions."
You might find our free world art history textbook (Reframing Art History) useful—it contains many of the 250 required works, and will eventually include them all. It is officially listed on the College Board's textbook list in their Course Audit.
AP®︎ Art History is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of this product.
- Introduction
- Ever wondered…why study art of the past?
- Common questions about dates
- Paleolithic art, an introduction
- The Neolithic revolution
- Neolithic period in China, an introduction
- Glossary for Global Prehistory
- Works of art
- 1. Apollo 11 Stones
- 1a. Origins of rock art in Africa
- 2. Great Hall of the Bulls
- 3. Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine
- 4. Running horned woman
- 5. Beaker with ibex motifs
- 6. Anthropomorphic stele
- 7. Jade cong
- 8. Stonehenge
- 9. The Ambum Stone
- 10. Tlatilco female figurine
- 11. Terra cotta fragment
- Introduction
- A brief history of Western culture
- Ancient West Asia: Cradle of civilization
- Sumer, an introduction
- Babylonia, an introduction
- Assyria, an introduction
- Ancient Egypt, an introduction
- Ancient Egyptian art, an introduction
- Predynastic and Early Dynastic, an introduction
- Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, an introduction
- Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, an introduction
- New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, an introduction
- Introduction to ancient Greek art
- Kouroi and Korai, an introduction
- Greek Vase-Painting, an introduction
- Contrapposto explained
- Greek architectural orders
- The Etruscans, an introduction
- Introduction to ancient Rome
- Introduction to ancient Roman art
- An introduction to ancient Roman architecture
- Ancient Rome
- Pompeii, an introduction
- Roman wall painting styles
- Works of art
- 12. White Temple and its ziggurat
- 13. Palette of King Narmer
- 14. Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq)
- 15. Seated scribe
- 16. Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq)
- 17. Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx
- 17a. Pyramid of Khufu
- 17b. Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx
- 17c. Pyramid of Menkaure
- 18. King Menkaura and queen
- 19. The Code of Hammurabi
- 20. Temple of Amun-Re and the Hypostyle Hall
- 21. Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
- 22. Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters
- 23. Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin
- 24. Last judgment of Hunefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead)
- 25. Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq)
- 26. Athenian Agora
- 27. Anavysos Kouros
- 28. Peplos Kore from the Acropolis
- 29. Sarcophagus of the Spouses
- 30. Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes
- 30a. Capital of a column from the audience hall of the palace of Darius I, Susa
- 31. Temple of Minerva (Veii, near Rome, Italy) and sculpture of Apollo, Master sculptor Vulca
- 32. Tomb of the Triclinium
- 33. Niobides Krater
- 34. Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), Polykleitos
- 35. Acropolis: the Parthenon
- 35a. Parthenon sculptures (pediments, metopes and frieze)
- 35b. Who owns the Parthenon sculptures?
- 35c. Plaque of the Ergastines
- 35d. The Many Lives of the Parthenon
- 35e. Nike Adjusting Her Sandal from the Temple of Athena Nike
- 36. Grave stele of Hegeso
- 37. Winged Victory of Samothrace
- 38. Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon
- 39. House of the Vettii
- 40. Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Pompeii
- 41. Seated boxer
- 42. Head of a Roman patrician
- 42a. Veristic male portrait
- 43. Augustus of Prima Porta
- 44. Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater)
- 45. Forum of Trajan, Apollodorus of Damascus
- 45a. Column of Trajan
- 46. Pantheon
- 47. Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
- Introduction
- Iconography and iconographic analysis, an introduction
- Who’s who? How to recognize saints…
- Christianity, an introduction
- Architecture and liturgy
- Introduction to the Middle Ages
- A new pictorial language: the image in early medieval art
- Medieval manuscripts, an introduction
- Byzantine art, an introduction
- Icons, an introduction
- Anglo-Saxon England
- Jewish history to the middle ages
- Gothic architecture, an introduction
- Introduction to Late Gothic art
- The Medieval and Renaissance Altarpiece
- How to recognize Italian Renaissance art
- Humanism in renaissance Italy
- Humanism in Italian renaissance art
- How one-point linear perspective works
- Toward the High Renaissance, an introduction
- Types of renaissance patronage
- An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the 15th century
- Mannerism, an introduction
- An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the 16th century
- Baroque art, an introduction
- How to recognize Baroque art
- Introduction to the Global Baroque
- The Protestant Reformation
- New Spain, an introduction
- Introduction to the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas
- Introduction to the Viceroyalty of Peru
- Defensive saints and angels in the Spanish Americas
- Works of art
- 48. Catacomb of Priscilla
- 49. Santa Sabina
- 50. Vienna Genesis
- 50a. Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from the Vienna Genesis
- 50b. Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well, from the Vienna Genesis
- 51. San Vitale
- 51a. Empress Theodora, rhetoric, and Byzantine primary sources
- 52. Hagia Sophia, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus
- 52a. Theotokos mosaic
- 52b. Deësis mosaic
- 52c. Hagia Sophia as a mosque
- 53. Merovingian looped fibulae
- 54. Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George
- 55. Lindisfarne Gospels: St. Matthew, cross-carpet page; St. Luke portrait page; St. Luke incipit page
- 56. Great Mosque, Córdoba
- 57. Pyxis of al-Mughira
- 58. Church of Sainte-Foy
- 59. Bayeux Tapestry
- 60. Chartres Cathedral
- 61. Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France, Scenes from the Apocalypse from Bibles moralisées
- 61a. Moralized Bible (Paris-Oxford-London)
- 62. Röttgen Pietà
- 63. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Giotto di Bondone, introduction
- 63a. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Giotto di Bondone, fresco cycle
- 63b. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Giotto di Bondone, Lamentation
- 63c. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Giotto di Bondone, Last Judgment
- 63d. The Arena Chapel in virtual reality
- 64. Golden Haggadah (The Plagues of Egypt, Scenes of Liberation, and Preparation for Passover)
- 65. Alhambra
- 66. Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece), Workshop of Robert Campin
- 67. Pazzi Chapel, Filippo Brunelleschi
- 68. The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan Van Eyck
- 69. David, Donatello
- 70. Palazzo Rucellai, Leon Battista Alberti
- 71. Madonna and Child with Two Angels, Fra Filippo Lippi
- 72. Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
- 73. Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
- 74. Adam and Eve, Albrecht Dürer
- 75. Sistine Chapel ceiling frescos, Michelangelo
- 75a. Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso), Michelangelo
- 75b. Sistine Chapel altar wall frescos, Michelangelo
- 75c. Who was Michelangelo?
- 76. School of Athens, Raphael
- 76a. Raphael, an introduction
- 77. Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grünewald
- 78. Entombment of Christ, Jacopo da Pontormo
- 79. Allegory of Law and Grace, Lucas Cranach the Elder
- 80. Venus of Urbino, Titian
- 81. Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza
- 82. Il Gesù, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco
- 83. Hunters in the Snow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- 84. Mosque of Selim II, Mimar Sinan
- 85. Calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio
- 86. Henri IV Receives the Portrait of of Marie de’Medici, from the Marie de’Medici Cycle, Peter Paul Rubens
- 87. Self-Portrait with Saskia, Rembrandt van Rijn
- 88. San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Francesco Borromini
- 89. Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- 90. Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei, Master of Calamarca
- 91. Las Meninas, Diego Velázquez
- 92. Woman Holding a Balance, Johannes Vermeer
- 93. The Palace at Versailles
- 94. Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and hunting scene
- 95. The Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe), Miguel González
- 95a. Virgin of Guadalupe
- 96. Fruit and Insects, Rachel Ruysch
- 97. Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo, attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez
- 98. The Tête à Tête, from Marriage a la Mode, William Hogarth
- Introduction
- Art historical analysis with Goya’s Third of May, 1808
- The Age of Enlightenment, an introduction
- A beginner’s guide to Rococo art
- Neoclassicism, an introduction
- A beginner’s guide to Romanticism
- Romanticism in France
- Orientalism
- Early Photography: Niépce, Talbot, and Muybridge
- The Daguerreotype (2 of 12)
- A beginner’s guide to Realism
- Introduction to lithography
- Impressionism, an introduction
- Japonisme
- Introduction to Neo-Impressionism, Part I
- Art Nouveau
- Fauvism, an introduction
- Expressionism, an introduction
- Inventing Cubism
- Cubism and multiple perspectives
- 291—Little Galleries of the Photo Secession
- Introduction to Dada
- Surrealism, an introduction
- De Stijl, Part I: Total Purity
- Abstract Expressionism, an introduction
- Pop Art
- Conceptual Art: An Introduction
- Works of art
- 99. Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Miguel Cabrera
- 100. A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery, Joseph Wright of Derby
- 101. The Swing, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- 102. Monticello, Thomas Jefferson
- 103. The Oath of the Horatii, Jacques-Louis David
- 104. George Washington, Jean-Antoine Houdon
- 105. Self-Portrait, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
- 106. Y no hai remedio (And There’s Nothing to Be Done), from Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), plate 15, Francesco de Goya
- 107. La Grande Odalisque, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- 108. Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix
- 109. The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm), Thomas Cole
- 110. Still Life in Studio, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
- 111. Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), J.M.W. Turner
- 112. Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament), Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin
- 113. The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet
- 114. Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art, Honoré Daumier
- 115. Olympia, Édouard Manet
- 116. The Saint-Lazare Station, Claude Monet
- 117. The Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge
- 118. The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel (El Valle de México desde el Cerro de Santa Isabel), José María Velasco
- 119. The Burghers of Calais, Auguste Rodin
- 120. The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh
- 121. The Coiffure, Mary Cassatt
- 122. The Scream, Edvard Munch
- 123. Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, Paul Gauguin
- 124. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, Louis Sullivan
- 125. Mont Sainte-Victoire, Paul Cézanne
- 126. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Pablo Picasso
- 127. The Steerage, Alfred Stieglitz
- 128. The Kiss, Gustav Klimt
- 129. The Kiss, Constantin Brancusi
- 130. The Portuguese, Georges Braque
- 130a. Pablo Picasso and the new language of Cubism
- 131. Goldfish, Henri Matisse
- 132. Improvisation 28 (second version), Vasily Kandinsky
- 133. Self-Portrait As a Soldier, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- 134. Memorial Sheet of Karl Liebknecht, Käthe Kollwitz
- 135. Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier
- 136. Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, Piet Mondrian
- 137. Illustration from The Results of the First Five-Year Plan, Varvara Stepanova
- 138. Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), Meret Oppenheim
- 139. Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright
- 140. The Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo
- 141. The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49, Jacob Lawrence
- 142. The Jungle, Wifredo Lam
- 143. Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park, Diego Rivera
- 144. Fountain (second version), Marcel Duchamp
- 145. Woman, I, Willem de Kooning
- 146. Seagram Building, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson
- 147. Marilyn Diptych, Andy Warhol
- 148. Narcissus Garden, Yayoi Kusama
- 149. The Bay, Helen Frankenthaler
- 150. Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks, Claes Oldenburg
- 151. Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson
- 152. House in New Castle County, Robert Venturi, John Rausch and Denise Scott Brown
- Introduction
- About geography and chronological periods in Native American art
- Terms and Issues in Native American Art
- Glossary for Indigenous Americas
- Introduction to Andean Cultures
- Introduction to Ancient Andean Art
- Mesoamerica, an introduction
- Defining “Pre-Columbian” and “Mesoamerica”
- Periods in Mesoamerican history
- The Maya, an introduction
- Introduction to the Aztecs (Mexica)
- Introduction to the Inka
- Works of art
- 153. Chavín de Huántar
- 154. Mesa Verde cliff dwellings
- 155. Yaxchilán
- 155a. Yaxchilán Lintels
- 156. Great Serpent Mound
- 157. Templo Mayor (Main Temple)
- 157a. The Coyolxauhqui Stone
- 157b. The Calendar Stone
- 157c. Olmec-style mask
- 158. Ruler’s feather headdress (probably of Motecuhzoma II)
- 159. City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)
- 160. Maize cobs
- 161. City of Machu Picchu
- 162. All-T’oqapu tunic
- 163. Bandolier bag
- 163a. What is a bandolier bag?
- 164. Transformation mask
- 165. Painted elk hide, attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody)
- 166. Black-on-black ceramic vessel, Maria Martínez and Julian Martínez
- Introduction
- Historical overview: to 1600
- Historical overview: from the 1600s to the present
- African art and the effects of European contact and colonization
- Form and meaning in African art
- Aesthetics and African art
- African religion and the spiritual realm
- Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa
- The human figure, animals and symbols in African art
- African art and politics
- Rites of passage in Africa
- Works of art
- 167. Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe
- 168. Great Mosque of Djenné
- 169. Wall plaque, from Oba's palace
- 169a. Benin plaques
- 169b. The Benin “Bronzes”: a story of violence, theft, and artistry
- 170. Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool)
- 171. Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul
- 172. Power figure (Nkisi n'kondi)
- 173. Female (Pwo) mask
- 174. Portrait mask (Mblo)
- 175. Bundu mask
- 176. Ikenga (shrine figure)
- 177. Lukasa (memory board)
- 178. Aka elephant mask
- 179. Reliquary figure (byeri)
- 180. Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)
- 180a. Olowe of Ise, veranda post
- Introduction
- A brief history of the cultures of Asia
- Introduction to Buddhism
- The historical Buddha
- Sacred arts of Tibet
- Introduction to Islam
- Introduction to mosque architecture
- Common types of mosque architecture
- Arts of the Islamic world: The early period
- The Umayyads, an introduction
- The vibrant visual cultures of the Islamic West, an introduction
- Arts of the Islamic world: The medieval period
- Arts of the Islamic world: The later period
- The Safavids, an introduction
- Introduction to the court carpets of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires
- Works of art
- 181. Petra, Jordan: Treasury and Great Temple
- 181a. Petra and the Treasury
- 181b. Petra and the Great Temple
- 182. Buddha, Bamiyan
- 183. The Kaaba
- 184. Jowo Rinpoche, enshrined in the Jokhang Temple
- 185. Dome of the Rock
- 186. Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh), Isfahan
- 187. Folio from a Qur’an
- 188. Basin (Baptistère de Saint Louis), Mohammed ibn al-Zain
- 189. Bahram Gur Fights the Karg, folio from the Great Il-Khanid Shahnama
- 189a. Folio from a Shahnama, The Bier of Iskandar (Alexander the Great)
- 190. The Court of Gayumars, folio from Shah Tahmasp’s Shahnama
- 190a. Making and Mutilating Manuscripts of the Shahnama
- 191. The Ardabil Carpet
- Introduction
- Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction
- Geographic regions of South Asia
- Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
- Buddhist monasteries
- Imperial China, an introduction
- Qin dynasty (c. 221–206 B.C.E.), an introduction
- Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), an introduction
- Period of Division (220–589 C.E.), an introduction
- Tang dynasty (618–907), an introduction
- Nara period, an introduction
- Hindu temples
- Song dynasty (960–1279), an introduction
- Chinese calligraphy, an introduction
- Chinese landscape painting
- Kamakura period, an introduction
- Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), an introduction
- Chinese porcelain: decoration
- Ming dynasty (1368–1644), an introduction
- Nanbokuchō and Muromachi periods, an introduction
- A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Edo period
- Modern China (1912–present), an introduction
- Works of art
- 192. Great Stupa at Sanchi
- 193. Terra cotta warriors from mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China
- 193a. The Tomb of the First Emperor
- 194. Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui)
- 194a. The Tomb of Lady Dai
- 195. Longmen caves
- 196. Gold and jade crown
- 196a. Gold crown and gold belt from the north mound of Hwangnamdaechong Tomb
- 197. Tōdai-ji
- 198. Borobudur Temple
- 199. Angkor, the temple of Angkor Wat
- 199a. The city of Angkor Thom
- 199b. Bayon Temple
- 200. Lakshmana Temple
- 201. Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Fan Kuan
- 202. Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja)
- 203. Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace
- 204. The David Vases
- 205. Portrait of Sin Sukju (1417–1475)
- 206. Forbidden City
- 207. Ryōan-ji
- 208. Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings, Bichitr
- 209. Taj Mahal
- 210. Red and White Plum Blossoms, Ogata Kōrin
- 211. Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai
- 212. Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan, Liu Chunhua
- Introduction
- Polynesia, an introduction
- Melanesia, an introduction
- What is the impact and legacy of Cook’s voyages?
- Glossary for AP Content Area 9: The Pacific
- Works of art
- 213. Nan Madol
- 214. Moai on platform (ahu)
- 214a. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Moai
- 215. ‘Ahu ‘ula (feather cape)
- 216. Staff god
- 217. Female deity
- 218. Buk (mask)
- 219. Hiapo (tapa)
- 220. Tamati Waka Nene, Gottfried Lindauer
- 221. Navigation chart
- 222. Malagan display and mask
- 223. Presentation of Fijian Mats and Tapa Cloths to Queen Elizabeth II
- Introduction
- Contemporary art, an introduction
- The Pictures Generation
- Works of art
- 224. The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude
- 225. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Maya Lin
- 226. Horn Players, Jean-Michel Basquiat
- 227. Summer Trees, Song Su-Nam
- 228. Androgyne III, Magdalena Abakanowicz
- 229. A Book from the Sky, Xu Bing
- 230. Pink Panther, Jeff Koons
- 231. Untitled #228, from the History Portraits series, Cindy Sherman
- 232. Dancing at the Louvre, from the series The French Collection, Part 1; #1, Faith Ringgold
- 233. Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
- 234. Earth’s Creation, Emily Kame Kngwarreye
- 235. Rebellious Silence, from the Women of Allah series, Shirin Neshat (artist); photo by Cynthia Preston
- 236. En la barberia no se llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop), Pepón Osorio
- 237. Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000), Michel Tuffery
- 238. Electronic Superhighway, Nam June Paik
- 239. The Crossing, Bill Viola
- 240. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Frank Gehry
- 241. Pure Land, Mariko Mori
- 242. Lying with the Wolf, Kiki Smith
- 243. Darkytown Rebellion, Kara Walker
- 244. The Swing (After Fragonard), Yinka Shonibare
- 245. Old Man’s Cloth, El Anatsui
- 245a. Untitled, El Anatsui
- 246. Stadia II, Julie Mehretu
- 247. Preying Mantra, Wangechi Mutu
- 248. Shibboleth, Doris Salcedo
- 249. MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Zaha Hadid
- 250. Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds), Ai Weiwei