AP ART HISTORY RESOURCES
Helping teachers and students prepare for the AP Art History exam
10 Units
250 objects from around the world (really, more like 400)
We recognize the need for more resources, especially for areas outside of Europe and Anglo-U.S. art and history. We’d like to help!
*Please note: we are not affiliated with the College Board in any way. These are resources created by educators for other educators!
UNIT 1: Global Prehistory
30,000–500 BCE
The world’s earliest art, from cave paintings to jade objects, to see how humans first expressed identity and beliefs.
Jade cong, Liangzhu, China, c.3300–2200 BCE
Tlatilco figurines, Central Mexico
Key Terms and Ideas
Learn about anthropomorphism in art
Learn the basics of BC vs. AD and BCE vs. CE
Materials to develop close looking skills skill
Learn about the idea of horror vacui in art
Learn about low relief, high relief, and sunken relief
UNIT 2: Ancient Mediterranean
3500 BCE–300 CE
Discover how the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and others shaped art, politics, and religion across the ancient Mediterranean world.
Key Terms and Ideas
Learn what an oculus in architecture is
Understand what contrapposto in sculpture is
Learn what votives are, such as in Ancient Sumer
UNIT 3: Early Europe and Colonial Americas
200–1750 CE
From medieval spirituality to Renaissance humanism, see how art developed and moved with global expansion in the colonial Americas.
Medieval fibulae, including two Visigothic eagles
Madonna and Child with Two Angels, Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1465
Key Terms and Ideas
Palazzo Rucellai and grand palaces in Florence
Artemisia Gentileschi and Tenebrism in Judith and Holofernes
Haloes and Andrea Mantegna’s Saint George
Fra Angelico and the San Marco Altarpiece
The Pyxis of al-Mughira and understanding pyxides
Enconchado (shell-inlaid painting in New Spain (Colonial Mexico)
Linear perspective and the Ideal Renaissance City
Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation—Angel Gabriel announces Christ’s birth
Rogier van der Weyden’s Portrait of a Lady and portraiture
Rachel Ruysch’s Still Life of Flowers and Insects
Fleur-de-lis and Sainte-Chapelle
A Colonial Mexican Biombo or folding screen with a scene in a garden
Chartes Cathedral and rose windows in Gothic architecture
Angels and Simone Martini: Messenger figures in art and belief
Judith Leyster and Self-portraiture
Andrea Mantegna’s Camera Picta frescoes and renaissance courts
The Palazzo Vecchio and Rustication: Rough stonework on building exteriors
Caravaggio’s Fortune Teller and Genre Scenes: Everyday life captured in art
UNIT 4: Later Europe and Americas
1750–1980 CE
Learn about Baroque drama, Enlightenment ideals, and revolutionary change in the art of Europe and the Americas.
Key Terms and Ideas
UNIT 5: Indigenous Americas
1000 BCE–1980 CE
Focus on the diverse artistic traditions of Indigenous peoples across North, Central, and South America.
Key Terms and Ideas
UNIT 6: Africa
1100–1980 CE
See how African artists across centuries used materials, performance, and design to convey power, spirituality, and identity.
UNIT 7: West and Central Asia
500 BCE–1980 CE
Explore Buddhist, Islamic, and Persian Asian art as crossroads of religion, empire, and trade.
UNIT 8: South, East, and Southeast Asia
1300 BCE–1980 CE
From Buddhist stupas to Chinese landscapes, discover Asia’s diverse artistic legacies and their global influence.
Key Terms and Ideas
UNIT 9: The Pacific
700–1980 CE
UNIT 10: Global Contemporary
1980 CE to Present
College Board Resources about AP Art History
Supercharge your learning!
Related Resources
Explore Continents
