艺术史系提供世界主要文化中视觉艺术的历史和批评课程。入门级的学生检查艺术品，并学习基本的批判和历史词汇，通过这些词汇可以理解和解释这些物品。在高级水平上，专业和非专业的学生都有机会研究有关方面的信息（例如，风格，肖像，光顾，物质文化，社会历史，宗教，性别和性，后殖民主义以及其他各种社会和政治背景）。在给定的历史时间特定地理区域中的艺术。这项先进的工作，加上适当的语言培训，为那些打算去研究生院准备从事艺术职业（例如奖学金，教学，博物馆，美术馆或拍卖行，保护，艺术批评）的人打下了坚实的基础。和国际出版的教授和
Once described by New York Times art critic John Russell as the best undergraduate department of art history in the country, the art history program at NYU was established to provide a rigorous and wide-ranging education in the many facets of the history and theory of art, a mission that its faculty continues to enthusiastically embrace. Students become familiar with global art from antiquity to the present. The department offers courses in ancient, medieval, Renaissance, baroque, modern, contemporary, East Asian, South Asian, Islamic, Latin American, African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian, and Native American art, treating not only painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography but also graphic media, manuscript illumination, the decorative arts, and aspects of urban design. The department is one of the few undergraduate programs in the country with extensive offerings in conservation and museology. A myriad of museums, galleries, and local architectural sites make New York City the ideal place in which to study the visual arts on site and in the flesh. Beyond New York, art history courses are offered at NYU's study away sites, such as Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Madrid, Paris, and Prague.The department offers majors and minors in art history and in urban design and architecture studies. Since an education in the history of art can be enhanced by a firsthand understanding of its making, our majors are encouraged to minor in studio art through the Steinhardt School. The department publishes its own student journal (Ink & Image), and has an honors program which culminates in the writing and oral defense of a senior honors thesis. Art history graduates have proven exceptionally successful in securing positions in museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, and nonprofit organizations. Those who go on to undertake graduate study typically pursue careers as curators, conservators, and academic art historians at the university and college level. Students majoring in urban design and architecture studies are well prepared for graduate study in architecture, urban planning, and historic preservation.