自從十九世紀中葉藝術史在歐洲成為學科以來，在藝術家生平傳記、鑑定學、風格分析與圖像學主流方法下，西方藝術史研究已建立對歷代作品風格內涵與文化意義的豐厚詮釋傳統。1980年代以來在各種批判理論衝擊下，更興起多種研究視角探究藝術品與藝術家創作面向的社會文化脈絡。值得注意的是，於此同時，西方學界也積極展開了對藝術流通與接受面向的探索，對藝術／藝術史在社會中的價值形塑與演變，提供更多重的觀照視角。本文將聚焦在藝術收藏史、藝術市場、美術館史與藝術展覽史、圖像複製與傳播及接受史等四個面向，觀察二十世紀末以來西方近現代藝術史的研究進展，梳理出研究概念與議題發展的脈絡，以作為藝術史學史反思的基礎。

Art history emerged as a discipline in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century and established a rich research tradition by employing the methodologies of biographical studies, connoisseurship, stylistic analysis, and iconology so as to better understand the stylistic and cultural significance of the artworks of the past centuries. Since the 1980s, under the impact of the various critical theories, a variety of research perspectives have emerged to explore the social and cultural contexts of artworks and their creation/ production by artists. It is worth noting that, about the same time, Western scholarship also began to investigate issues of circulation and the reception of artworks, thus providing multiple new perspectives on the shaping of the value of art/ art history and its evolution in society. This article observes the progress of Western art history research since the end of the twentieth century with a focus on the following four aspects: the history of collecting; the art market; the history of art museums and exhibitions; and history of image reproduction, dissemination and reception. It aims to trace contextual developments of the research concepts and issues so as to provide a basis for further reflection on art historiography.