Critical art histories have strategically contributed to the constitution of visual culture studies as an interdisciplinary field that interprets the mediations of mass-produced imagery in contemporary culture. This article advocates for an anti-historicist perspective of art historical knowledge connected to cultural analysis and centered on the present time. It presents an approach to art as a contingent "visual event" that responds to theoretical and political emergencies and urgencies in specific times and contexts. The article conceptualizes a pedagogy of art historical appropriation that situates the learner as a critical examiner of cultural legacies, inherited genealogies, and repressed memories. Three instances of art historical appropriation (autobiography, archival work, and global narratives), inspired in the work of contemporary artists, art historians, and curators, are analyzed as possible contributions to a visual culture-based art education.