Modern and Contemporary Art and Design specialization (MoMA / Coursera)
MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
MoMA's Coursera specialization covering the aesthetic and cultural context architects need — modern and contemporary art, design movements, and the relationships between visual arts and architecture.
More resources on Architecture History
Stewart Hicks
Associate Professor and Associate Dean at UIC — video essays exploring why buildings look the way they do, examining architectural history, theory, and urbanism with genuine intellectual depth. ~670K subscribers.
An Outline of European Architecture by Nikolaus Pevsner
The most accessible single-volume introduction to European architectural history — from Greek antiquity through to the twentieth century. Still the best place to start for anyone encountering the subject for the first time.
Modern Architecture Since 1900 by William J.R. Curtis (3rd edition, Phaidon)
The most comprehensive single-volume history of modern architecture — combining historical narrative with interpretive depth. The definitive reference for the full sweep of twentieth-century building.
Modern Architecture: A Critical History by Kenneth Frampton (5th edition, 2020)
The standard text on modernism and its discontents, used at virtually every architecture school globally. Combines historical narrative with critical depth across movements from Art Nouveau to the present.