Galicia PAU History of Art study guide
Galicia PAU History of Art · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The PABAU History of Art exam is the Galician university-access test in art history, taken by Bachillerato students and by older candidates entering through the access route for people over 25 or 45. It is a written, handwritten exam in which you choose between two options (A or B), each built around reproductions printed in the paper, and answer short and essay questions on the images and on the syllabus. The Galicia PAU History of Art study guide has 8 sections and about 3,716 words.
01Ancient and Classical art (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman)
This domain runs from the first city-states of Mesopotamia to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The PAU expects three moves for any work: identify it exactly (author where known, title, date, material, technique, original setting), describe its form with technical vocabulary, and explain what it was for and what it meant in its society.
471 words, about 2 min02Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic)
Medieval art in the PAU runs from the 4th century to about 1500 and is tested as four linked systems: Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic. The examiner wants to see how a building's structure dictates its imagery, and how a change in vaulting changes what can be painted, glazed or carved.
496 words, about 2 min03Renaissance and Mannerism
Renaissance questions in the PAU ask you to connect a work to humanism, to the revival of antiquity and to new techniques - above all linear perspective. Mannerism is examined as the deliberate unravelling of that system, not as a decline.
462 words, about 2 min04Baroque and Rococo
Baroque and Rococo are examined through function: who paid, who was meant to be persuaded, and by which visual means. The PAU often contrasts a Counter-Reformation image with a Protestant Dutch picture made in the same decade.
453 words, about 2 min0519th century art (Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism)
The 19th century is examined as a sequence of reactions driven by politics and the art market: the Salon, the Academy, and each movement's answer to both. You must be able to date a movement within a decade and give its formal signature.
443 words, about 2 min06Modern art: early 20th-century avant-gardes and architecture
This domain covers roughly 1905–1945: the historical avant-gardes and the birth of modern architecture. The PAU expects you to place a movement within about five years, name its manifesto or key exhibition, and state its formal rule.
471 words, about 2 min07Art from the mid-20th century to the present
The post-1945 domain tests the shift from the object to the idea, and from the studio to the institution, the market and the landscape. The exam usually asks you to characterise a movement and place one work inside it.
463 words, about 2 min08Artistic techniques, materials, terminology and formal analysis
This domain is where candidates lose easy marks: questions asking you to name a technique, define a term, or analyse form are short but strictly marked. Precision of vocabulary is the whole point.
457 words, about 2 min