About

Concept

The EVA project brings together more than 200 Art and Heritage Historians representing the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.

It is led by an Editorial Board comprising 6 internationally renowned European specialists and supported by the international association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA).

Scientific and operational coordination is provided by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) in Paris.

The EVA database is the result of an unprecedented collaborative effort, involving more than 50 museums, university departments and art history research institutes across Europe. It is centered on collection of 475 objects and images selected in consultation with all of its European partners.

This database offers the first polyphonic, multilingual, inclusive and transnational history of the visual arts of continental Europe, from prehistory to the present day.

Principles

The principles guiding the EVA project stem from a number concerns shared accross Europe:

- The lack of a reference publication devoted to art in Europe, in line with recent methodological developments in the discipline and mindful of the existence of alternative paradigms enabling the reformulation of long-term artistic narratives.

- The growing success of identity-based and nationalist discourses in European countries.

- The need to protect the arts, their images and artefacts from all forms of appropriation.

- The need for the humanities – and art history in particular – to continue improving the means of disseminating academic knowledge to as wide an audience as possible.

Selection Process for the 475 objects

Each of the 46 participating countries was required to submit a list of 20 objects meeting the criteria set out below:

- 4 objects linked to the country making the proposal and held within its territory

- 8 objects from other European countries, with no link to the country submitting the proposal

- 8 objects chosen at the country’s discretion, linked to the country submitting the proposal or, more generally, to continental Europe

The final selection of the 475 objects was made from the 830 proposals submitted to the Editorial Board by all the European delegations, which were given the opportunity to advocate for specific objects on a case-by-case basis, before these were put to a vote at a general assembly held in Stockholm in October 2024.

Within the framework of the EVA project, the visual arts are considered in a broad and multidisciplinary sense, encompassing not only the fine arts, but also any object (or form) created by human societies to represent and/or interpret reality.

The resulting digital publication covers the entire chronological period, from prehistory to the present day, and is not confined to conventional periodisation, which often involves local variations that cannot be ignored.

Support from RIHA

Founded in Paris in 1998, the International Association of Art History Research Institutes (RIHA) seeks to promote teaching and research in art history, to strengthen cooperation between research institutes, to facilitate the exchange of academic information, and to encourage joint projects.

It was within this framework that the EVA project was developed, during two general assemblies of the association, held successively in Moscow (October 2019) and via videoconference (October 2020).

The project’s approach is fully in line with RIHA’s objectives. It aims to create a new form of collaboration not only amongst its members, but also with institutions that are not currently represented within this international network.

Editorial Board Members

Éric de Chassey
General Director École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (ENSBA), Paris, France
Anne-Solène Rolland
General Director Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), Paris, France
Joana Cunha Leal
Full Professor for graduate and post-graduate courses on 19th and early 20th centuries Instituto de História da Arte, Lisbon, Portugal
Klara Kemp-Welch
Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History/Head of Research Degrees 2025-2028 The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom
Taťána Petrasová
Deputy Director Institute of Art History CAS, Prague, Czech Republic
Martin Olin
Director of Collections Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

Scientific and Editorial Coordinators

Levon Chookaszian
Professor Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
Doris Gruber
Principal Researcher, Head of Research Unit Art History Research Unit Art History, Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Richard Kurdiovsky
Research Associate Research Unit Art History, Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Isabelle Lecocq
Art History Research and Inventory Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, KIK-IRPEA, Brussels, Belgium
Margarita Kuyumdzhieva
Associate Professor Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Joanna Spassova-Dikova
https://artstudies.bg/?tshowcase=joana-spassova-dikova&lang=en Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Katarina Horvat-Levaj
Senior Research Adviser in tenure, Director Institute of Art History, Zagreb, Croatia
Ana Ćurić
Head of Project Management and Publishing Department Institute of Art History, Zagreb, Croatia
Anna Schram Vejlby
Director Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Toreby L., Denmark
Virve Sarapik
Professor Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (KVI), Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), Tallinn, Estonia
Kristina Jõekalda
Senior Researcher, Associate Professor at the Doctoral School Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (KVI), Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), Tallinn, Estonia
Marie-Sofie Lundström
Professor Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
Marion Boudon-Machuel
Head of the Studies and Research Department Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), Paris, France
Vassiliki Tzanakou
Curator, Art Historian, Cultural strategist Athens, Greece
Monika Perenyei
Senior Researcher, Head of the Reseach Centre for the for Humanities ELTE RCH Institute for Art History, Budapest, Hungary
Gábor György Papp
Senior Researcher ELTE RCH Institute for Art History, Budapest, Hungary
Hlynur Helgason
Associate Professor Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Kathleen James-Chakraborty
Full Professor School of Art History and Cultural Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland
Timothy Stott
Head of Department, Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Art History Department of History of Art and Architecture, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Kristiāna Ābele
Director, Senior Researcher, Guest Lecturer AAL Institute of Art History, Riga, Latvia
Stella Pelše
Guest Lecturer, Senior Researcher AAL Institute of Art History, Riga, Latvia
Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Art Historian, Curator Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius, Lithuania
Andrea Binsfeld
Associate Professor Institute of History, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Mark Sagona
Senior Lecturer Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Christian Attard
Senior Lecturer Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Tudor Stavila
Researcher Institute for Cultural Heritage, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
Svetlana Racanovic
Art Historian, Curator, Critic, Professor Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Montenegro, Cetinje, Montenegro
Lazar Pejovic
Professor of Photography Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Montenegro, Cetinje, Montenegro
Sabine Craft-Giepmans
Head of Special Collections Leiden University Libraries, Leiden, the Netherlands
Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik
Director International Cultural Centre (ICC), Krakow, Poland
Dorota Piramidowicz
Deputy Director Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Anna Oleńska
Art Historian, Professor Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland
Adrian Silvan Ionescu
Director "George Oprescu" Institute for Art History, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
Miško Šuvaković
Professor Emeritus Faculty of Media and Communication, University of Singidunum, Belgrade, Serbia
Barbara Hodasova
Senior Research Fellow Art Research Centre of SAS, Institute of Art History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Mija Oter Gorenčič
Associate Professor, Head ZRC SAZU France Stele Institute of Art History, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Anja Iskra
Researcher ZRC SAZU France Stele Institute of Art History, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Roger Fayet
Director Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA), Zurich,Switzerland