Michaelis is staffed by some of South Africa’s leading fine artists, curators and art academics. Internationally, the school is recognised as one of South Africa’s foremost institutions for the study of fine art and new media at an advanced level.

Visual and Art History is a six-course major available to students in the Humanities Faculty studying towards a BA degree. The courses provide an opportunity to study both the history of the fine arts and the history of other key visual traditions and cultures, including architecture, interior and industrial design and dress.

The Honours programme in curatorship is offered in close collaboration with Iziko South African Museums. The programme offers courses in the theory and practice of curatorship, developing in students a sophisticated awareness of the practicalities, politics and poetics of working with collections of many kinds.