FUBiS - Freie Universität Berlin International Summer and Winter University

The course is part of a Multi-City Program in cooperation with Utrecht Summer School and the Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence.

Course Description

The course will introduce Berlin’s outstanding art collections, with their wide range of masterpieces from late medieval times to the present day. We shall focus throughout on the particular circumstances that shaped the production and reception of German art, especially during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this long period, the formation of a German nation state and the problematic notion of a German national identity became intimately connected to the question of a German style and artistic ‘expression’. A special focus will be given to the "Art of the two Germanys" between 1945 and 1989. We shall explore Germany’s vibrant art history by focusing on works by artists like Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer, Caspar David Friedrich, Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Adolph Menzel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, Joseph Beuys and Anselm Kiefer.

Field trips include the following museums and galleries in Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, the Gemäldegalerie, the Museum of Photography, the Brücke Museum, the Nationalgalleries, and the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

The course is part of a Multi-City Program in cooperation with Utrecht Summer School and Royal Netherlands Institute Rome.

Course Description

This course provides an overview of the political, socio-economic, and cultural developments that shaped Europe throughout the 20th century and the first decades of the 21th century. This will mainly be done by looking through the prism of European integration and the evolution and current challenges of the European Union across different policy fields. Many deeply impacting developments occurred over the course of the 20th century: Two World Wars were fought, the birth of the European Union and the fall of Communism, just to name a few. Being such a crucial city in Europe’s history in the 20th and 21th century, Berlin is the most logical location for this course. Special emphasis will also be given to Germany's role in the middle of the continent. The city of Berlin, with all its tangible historical remains, will be dealt with as a city of former crisis with great promises for a better future.

In this course we will try to identify the democratic values that have shaped the rebirth of Europe and discuss the challenges with which present-day Europe is faced. The course will reflect on Europe's place in the global, multi-polar world of the 21st century.

Several excursions will be organized in which you will visit some key historic sites as well as prominent EU and German institutions based in Berlin.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)