Art history and art travel guides
Learn to read art, one work at a time.
Most art writing gives you too much or too little. The Art Newbie gives you the part that matters: what you are looking at, why it was made, and what to notice when you stand in front of it. Every term is explained, and nothing is called unmissable unless it is.
Everything on this page has a guide.
The two sections
Two ways in
Art History
The story of art, one question at a time.
Periods, works and ideas in plain English. Every term is explained the first time it appears, so you can start anywhere.
Art Travel
Where the art is now, and how to see it well.
The museums, the monuments and the routes, with how long you need and what to look at first.
Recently added
All guides Latest guides
Aegean Bronze AgeAkrotiri (Thera): The Bronze Age Town Buried by a Volcano
Akrotiri was a Bronze Age town on Santorini, preserved under volcanic ash and pumice until excavations began in 1967.
Aegean Bronze AgeThe Minoan Snake Goddess Figurines Found at Knossos in 1903
‘Snake Goddess’ is Evans’s name, and parts of both statuettes are restoration. Which parts are original, and who is shown?
Aegean Bronze AgePalace of Knossos, the Largest Minoan Palace on Crete
Knossos was the largest Minoan palace, a complex of courts, storerooms and workshops built around a central court.
Pre-Columbian ArtTeotihuacan: The City of the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
The Aztecs gave the Pyramid of the Sun its name long after the city fell; what its builders called it is unknown.
Pre-Columbian ArtNazca Lines: How AI Found 303 New Figures in Six Months
A 2024 survey using AI found 303 new figures, but why the Nazca people made any of them is still debated.
Chinese ArtThe Terracotta Army Was Found by Farmers Digging a Well
In 1974 farmers digging a well near Xi’an hit clay soldiers buried to guard China’s first emperor in the afterlife.
Indian ArtThe Indus Valley Civilisation: South Asia’s First Cities
Its script is still unread and its rulers are unknown. Who organised the Indus cities, and how did they keep order?
Indian Art