A recent trend argues that the world shifted from words to images. 

Instead of reading, we look at pictures, instead of writing, we exchange icons. In this seminar, we shall try to turn this critical observation into a leverage and read up on historians who dedicate their lives to the study of paintings and other images. What is the meaning of the “visual turn” – this will be our point of entry into the inquiry. The seminar will be structured around a set of case studies, among them, representations of the self (portrait), of landscape (as a political space), of women and sexuality, and other related subjects.