Art history is an academic discipline devoted to the study of artistic production and visual culture throughout human history. Art historians use a historical method or a philosophy, such as historical materialism or critical theory, to analyze artworks. Among other topics, they study art's impact on societies and cultures, relationship between art and politics, and how artistic styles and formal characteristics of works of art have changed throughout history. As a discipline, art history is distinguished from art criticism, which is concerned with establishing a relative artistic value for critiquing individual works, and aesthetics, which is a branch of philosophy.

The study of art’s history emerged as a way to document and interpret artistic production. Early traditions of art-historical writing developed in several cultures, including Ancient Greece, Imperial China, and Renaissance Italy, each producing influential figures and approaches that shaped later scholarship. As an academic discipline, art history emerged in the 19th century and was a largely Eurocentric field, concentrating on Western definitions of the fine and decorative arts, particularly painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture.

In contemporary era, however, art history has expanded to examine broader aspects of visual culture, including the various cultural, political, and socioeconomic issues related to art. Today, art history is a broad academic field encompassing numerous methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of artistic production globally, including European, Asian, African, or American Indigenous arts, among others. Some of the subfields include Marxist art history, feminist art history, iconography and the study of symbols, visual culture studies, and design history.

Art historians employ a number of methods in their research so they can examine work in the context of its time. This is professionally done in a manner which respects its creator's motivations and imperatives; with consideration of the desires and prejudices of its patrons and sponsors. A comparative analysis of themes and approaches of the creator's colleagues and teachers along with consideration of iconography and symbolism is part of the examination. In short, this approach examines the work of art in the context of the world within which it was created.

Art historians also often examine work through an analysis of form; that is, the creator's use of line, shape, color, texture and composition. This approach examines how the artist uses a two-dimensional picture plane or the three dimensions of sculptural or architectural space to create their art. The way these individual elements are employed results in representational or non-representational art.

An analysis of iconography is a large branch of art history which focuses on particular design elements of an object. Through a close reading of such elements, it is possible to trace their lineage, and with it draw conclusions regarding the origins and trajectory of these motifs. In turn, it is possible to make any number of observations regarding the social, cultural, economic and aesthetic values of those responsible for producing the object.

Art historians may also work alongside or as art conservators, helping restore and conserve artworks. Conservation is a scientific field that is crucial to historians work, due to them needing to observe a work that is a condition good enough to be examined. Training in art conservation typically involves coursework in chemistry as well as the practice and history of art.

Most art historians choose a specific historical period within art history to specialize or gain an academic degree in. Concentrations on art movements, periods and certain fields such as Prehistoric art, Ancient art, Medieval art, Renaissance art, Romanticism, Realism, Modern art, Contemporary art, Pop art, Feminist art, Queer art and much more are common in the academic world. These periods of art movements attempt to cover the broader aspect of art history while distinctively separating them.