Galicia PAU History of Art study plan
Galicia PAU History of Art · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Ancient and Classical art (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman)
Identify the formal and iconographic conventions of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art (ziggurats, votive statues, mastabas, hypogea, temple and tomb types) and date at least ten key works to their period and culture
Distinguish the Archaic, Severe, Classical and Hellenistic phases of Greek sculpture by posture, drapery, proportion and pathos, naming one representative work per phase
Compare Greek architectural orders and the Parthenon-type temple layout with Roman engineering forms (arch, vault, dome, concrete) using correct technical vocabulary
Explain Roman portrait typologies and narrative relief conventions (historical relief, triumphal arch, column) and link them to their political function
Your checkpoint
A one-page comparative table of 15 ancient works (culture, period, function, material, two formal features each) written from memory, checked against class notes
Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic)
Trace the transition from catacomb and basilica imagery to Early Christian mosaic programmes, describing how space and light are used in centralized versus longitudinal plans
Recognize Byzantine building types and mosaic conventions (pendentive dome, gold ground, hierarchical scale) and date two major monuments to their century
Analyze Romanesque sculpture and painting through portal programmes, capitals and fresco cycles, identifying the didactic and pilgrimage functions
Deconstruct Gothic structural logic (pointed arch, rib vault, flying buttress) and relate it to stained glass, tracery and verticality in two cathedrals
Your checkpoint
A written 25-minute practice answer on one Romanesque and one Gothic building, structured as identification, formal analysis, function and context
Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic) & Renaissance and Mannerism
Consolidate the medieval block by producing a timeline of 20 works from Early Christian to late Gothic with dates within a half-century
Explain the rediscovery of perspective, anatomy and antique models in Quattrocento painting, sculpture and architecture, citing specific technical innovations
Contrast the spatial and compositional solutions of two Renaissance masters working in the same genre
Identify the stylistic markers of Mannerism (figura serpentinata, elongated proportion, artificial colour, ambiguous space) in painting, sculpture and architecture
Your checkpoint
A 30-minute timed essay comparing one High Renaissance and one Mannerist work, self-marked against a checklist of identification, analysis, context and terminology
Renaissance and Mannerism & Baroque and Rococo
Describe Baroque spatial and rhetorical devices (diagonal composition, theatrical light, quadratura, scenographic urbanism) and apply them to at least four works across media
Distinguish Italian, Flemish, Dutch and Spanish Baroque currents by subject matter, patronage and handling of paint
Explain the function of the altarpiece, ceiling fresco and portrait within Counter-Reformation and absolutist contexts
Recognize Rococo taste through ornament, palette, asymmetry and interior scale, and state how it departs from Baroque monumentality
Your checkpoint
A comparative dossier of six Baroque and Rococo works with annotated sketches of their compositional axes and light sources
19th century art (Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism)
Map the sequence from Neoclassicism to Post-Impressionism onto political and social change, dating ten works within two decades
Analyze how Realism and Impressionism redefine subject matter, finish and the viewer's position
Explain the technical basis of plein-air painting, optical colour mixing and brushwork in Impressionism, and the divergent formal strategies of Post-Impressionism
Compare academic and avant-garde exhibition contexts and their effect on style and scale
Your checkpoint
A 40-minute mock exam block on 19th-century art (two short identifications plus one long commentary), graded with a written correction list
Modern art: early 20th-century avant-gardes and architecture
Identify the founding premises and formal vocabulary of Cubism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism, with one signature work per movement
Explain the shift from representation to abstraction in painting and sculpture, naming the artists and the arguments behind it
Relate early 20th-century architecture to new materials and programmes (steel frame, reinforced concrete, glass curtain wall, functional zoning) and to two canonical buildings
Situate Spanish and Galician artists of the period within the international avant-garde
Your checkpoint
A movement-by-movement flashcard set (minimum 30 cards) with front-side image descriptions and back-side formal and contextual notes, tested once
Art from the mid-20th century to the present & Artistic techniques, materials, terminology and formal analysis
Outline the main postwar currents (Abstract Expressionism, Informalism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual, Land and Performance art) with one defining work and one defining idea each
Explain how contemporary practice questions the art object, the gallery and authorship, and give two examples with their critical rationale
Name materials and processes across painting, sculpture, printmaking, mosaic and architecture, and match them to their visual effects
Define core formal-analysis terms (composition, plane, volume, texture, chiaroscuro, proportion, scale) and apply them to an unfamiliar work
Your checkpoint
A one-page glossary of 20 technique and terminology terms with a worked formal analysis of a single unfamiliar work using at least eight of them
Ancient and Classical art (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman) & Medieval art (Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic) & Renaissance and Mannerism & Baroque and Rococo & 19th century art (Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism) & Modern art: early 20th-century avant-gardes and architecture & Art from the mid-20th century to the present & Artistic techniques, materials, terminology and formal analysis
Synthesize all domains into a single chronological framework of 40 anchor works, each retrievable with date, author, style, function and two formal features
Practise the exam's image-commentary format under time pressure, allocating minutes correctly between identification, analysis and context
Diagnose and repair the three weakest domains identified by earlier self-marking
Rehearse concise contextual arguments linking work to patronage, religion, politics and technical change
Your checkpoint
A full timed mock exam (image commentaries plus essay) completed in one sitting and self-assessed with a per-domain score sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Can date and attribute 20 ancient and medieval works from memory and state one function for each, scoring at least 16/20 on a self-made image quiz
Week 4: Can write a full commentary on any Renaissance, Mannerist or Baroque work in 25 minutes without notes, hitting identification, formal analysis, context and terminology in the self-marking checklist
Week 6: Can place 30 works from all domains so far on a blank timeline within half a century and match each to its style, scoring at least 24/30
Week 8: Full timed mock exam completed with every section attempted, and a written list of the five most frequent errors plus the correction for each