Have you ever wondered where the various artists you see in major museums or on social media studied? They weren't born famous. Behind every big name there is almost always a school, a place where they learned not only to draw or sculpt, but to find their own voice.
We took a virtual tour around the world, divided by continent, to discover the most important schools and the incredible artists who came out of them.
EUROPE – Royal College of Art (RCA), London
A school that made English art history
Ranked first among the world's best art universities in London, this school is a true legend. It has produced people who have changed the way we see things.
- David Hockney: A living legend. He is famous for his colorful paintings, especially those featuring California swimming pools. At over 80 years old, he still draws, even using digital tools, proving that he is always one step ahead.
- Tracey Emin: An artist who puts her whole self into her work, in a direct and sometimes shocking way. Her most famous work? My Bed (1998). She brought her unmade bed, with everything around it, to a museum, recounting a difficult period in her life.
- Ridley Scott: That's right, the director of masterpieces such as Blade Runner, Alien, and Gladiator. Before cinema, he studied design. That's why his films have such an incredible aesthetic: he learned how to build visually perfect worlds here.
NORTH AMERICA – Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence
The American school for those who want to make a difference
In the US, RISD is one of the best universities, if not the best, ranking fourth in the global rankings. It doesn't just teach you to become good, but to use your art to say something important. Among the big names to have come out of this institute are:
- Julie Mehretu: Her paintings are enormous, complex, almost like maps of chaotic cities. Looking at them, you feel all the energy and confusion of today's world.
- Do Ho Suh: He does something incredible: he recreates the houses he has lived in, life-size, using fabric. Walking inside them is like passing through a ghost or a memory. He talks about home, roots, and always feeling a little bit like a stranger.
- Shepard Fairey (OBEY): Even if you don't know his name, you know his work. He is the artist who created Barack Obama's famous "Hope" poster. He showed everyone that street art can have a huge political impact, becoming one of the most famous street artists in the world.
LATIN AMERICA – University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
In Brazil, art is also a form of protest
In South America, USP is a point of reference. Here, artists often use creativity to talk about social justice and give a voice to those who don't have one.
- Rosana Paulino: is a Brazilian visual artist and researcher specializing in printmaking, weaving, and photography. Her work explores identity, race, and the condition of women of African descent in Brazilian society. Her works are featured in museums such as MoMA in New York and MASP in São Paulo.
- Giselle Beiguelman: a pioneerof digital art since the 1990s, she explores how technology rewrites the aesthetics of memory and collective memories through digital languages, urban installations, and social media.
- Gilberto Orcioli Salvador is a Brazilian visual artist, architect, and engraver, known for his monumental urban works and graphic productions that combine experimentation, symbolism, and expression. His creations are exhibited in important Brazilian collections such as MASP and MAM.
ASIA – Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing
The school that launched Chinese art onto the world stage
This academy is the beating heart of new Chinese art, capable of combining a thousand-year-old culture with explosive modernity.
- Xu Bing: He created a brilliant work, Book from the Sky: he filled books with thousands of Chinese characters he invented, which look real but mean nothing. A clever way to make us think about how language can be used to control us.
- Chen Man: She is a fashion photographer whose photos are a mix of futuristic style and traditional culture. She has introduced the world to a completely new kind of Chinese beauty.
- Hou Hanru: Think of him as a global exhibition "organizer." His work is extremely important because he brings together artists and ideas from different continents, especially between Asia and the West, helping us to understand each other better.
AFRICA – Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town
Art that tells the story and identity of a continent
In Cape Town, there is a school where art is a tool for coming to terms with a difficult past such as apartheid and for imagining a different future.
- Claudette Schreuders: She creates beautiful wood sculptures: small figures of people that seem simple, but actually tell profound stories about life in South Africa. They are so important that some of them are displayed in the Met Museum in New York.
- Bronwyn Katz: She uses unusual materials for her works, such as foam rubber from old mattresses. Her art speaks of the earth, memory, and history in a truly unique and powerful way.
- Richard E. Grant: Not just painters! The famous actor from films such as Dracula and Can You Ever Forgive Me? also studied here. Proof that a good creative education can take you anywhere.
✨ What does all this teach us?
Ultimately, these schools are much more than just buildings. They are places where young people with ideas find the courage and tools to express them.
It makes you think that perhaps the next artist who will change the way we see things is sitting right now in one of these classrooms, holding a notebook and a brand new idea to draw.
Join in!
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