PAU History of Art (Extremadura) study plan
PAU History of Art (Extremadura) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Islamic)
Build a one-page timeline of Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Islamic art, placing 20 key works by date and region from memory.
Describe the structural differences between Romanesque and Gothic churches using at least six correct technical terms (e.g. arco fajón, bóveda de crucería, arbotante, contrafuerte).
Identify the formal conventions of Byzantine mosaic and icon painting and explain how they differ from Romanesque mural painting.
Explain the main architectural and decorative features of the mosque (mihrab, qibla, minaret, horseshoe arch) with one example each.
Your checkpoint
A hand-drawn or digital timeline plus 20 flashcards, scored at 80% or better on a self-quiz identifying each work's period and region.
Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Islamic) & Ancient and Classical art (Near East, Greece, Rome)
Compare the ground plans and elevation systems of three Romanesque churches and three Gothic cathedrals, naming the parts correctly.
Analyse the iconographic programme of a Gothic portal and a Romanesque tympanum, distinguishing the theological message of each.
Trace the formal debt of Early Christian basilicas to Roman civic architecture, citing at least three borrowed elements.
Summarise the development of Islamic art in the Iberian Peninsula from the emirate to the Nasrid period, with one monument per phase.
Your checkpoint
A 600-word comparative commentary on one Romanesque and one Gothic building, structured as an exam answer with formal analysis and context.
Ancient and Classical art (Near East, Greece, Rome)
Sequence the major phases of Greek sculpture (Archaic, Severe, Classical, Hellenistic) and justify the sequence with formal criteria.
Distinguish the architectural orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian) and apply them to named buildings.
Explain the representational conventions of Ancient Near Eastern art (hierarchy of scale, registers, lamassu, stele) with examples.
Describe Roman contributions in engineering, portraiture and mural painting, and contrast them with Greek models.
Your checkpoint
A completed comparative grid of 12 ancient works (period, function, material, formal traits, one-line significance) checked against notes for factual accuracy.
Renaissance and Mannerism
Explain linear perspective and its use in Quattrocento painting, identifying vanishing-point construction in at least two works.
Compare the compositional and anatomical approach of High Renaissance masters with Mannerist distortion, citing specific works.
Describe the spread of Renaissance forms to Spain and identify the distinguishing traits of the Plateresque and the Escorial style.
Outline the debate between disegno and colore and connect it to regional schools.
Your checkpoint
A timed 90-minute mock exam section (one essay plus two short answers) on Renaissance and Mannerism, self-marked against a rubric.
Baroque and Rococo
Identify the defining formal features of Baroque art (diagonal composition, chiaroscuro, theatrical light, total artwork) and apply them to works from Italy, Flanders, Holland and Spain.
Distinguish Baroque classicism from Baroque naturalism using paired examples.
Explain the social and religious functions of Baroque imagery (Counter-Reformation, absolutist propaganda, bourgeois genre and still life).
Describe the transition to Rococo in terms of palette, subject and interior decoration, and contrast it with late Baroque.
Your checkpoint
A 10-image visual identification drill completed in under 15 minutes with at least 8 correct attributions and one formal argument per image.
19th-century art (Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism) & Baroque and Rococo
Map the sequence from Neoclassicism through Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, giving the formal rupture and the historical trigger for each shift.
Compare the technique and aims of two Impressionists with two Post-Impressionists, citing brushwork, colour theory and subject.
Explain how Goya bridges late Baroque/Neoclassical training and modern subjectivity, with three works as evidence.
Identify the impact of photography and new pigments on nineteenth-century pictorial practice.
Your checkpoint
A one-page visual family tree of nineteenth-century movements with 15 correctly attributed works and dates within a five-year margin.
20th-century art (avant-gardes and later movements)
Define the aims of Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada and Surrealism, and distinguish Analytic from Synthetic Cubism.
Explain abstraction as a programme (Kandinsky, Mondrian, constructivism) and contrast it with Dada's anti-art stance.
Trace the shift of the avant-garde centre from Europe to the United States after 1945 and describe two post-war movements (Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism).
Analyse one work as a primary source, extracting medium, scale, composition and stated intention.
Your checkpoint
A 900-word essay on a single avant-garde work, arguing its historical significance with at least four pieces of cited contextual evidence.
Spanish art and Extremaduran artistic heritage & Ancient and Classical art (Near East, Greece, Rome) & Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Islamic) & Renaissance and Mannerism & Baroque and Rococo & 19th-century art (Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism) & 20th-century art (avant-gardes and later movements)
Synthesise Spanish art from the Romanesque to the twentieth century, naming key works, authors and periods, including Extremaduran heritage (e.g. the theatres of Mérida, Guadalupe, Cáceres, Trujillo, Yuste).
Recall the specific contributions of Extremaduran-born or Extremadura-linked artists and patrons.
Complete two full timed mock exams under exam conditions and mark them against the official weighting of the domains.
Consolidate the weakest 30 items from previous quizzes into a final revision set.
Your checkpoint
Two completed timed mock exams with a written error log and a final one-page summary sheet of dates, terms and attributions.
Milestones
Week 2: Can place any of 25 medieval works in its period and region within 30 seconds, and can label the parts of a Gothic cathedral and a mosque from memory.
Week 4: Scores at least 70% on the timed Renaissance and Mannerism mock, with correct use of at least 15 technical terms.
Week 6: Correctly attributes 12 of 15 works from Baroque to Post-Impressionism and explains each movement's formal rupture in one sentence.
Week 8: Scores at least 75% on both full mock exams and can name five Extremaduran heritage sites with period and significance.