Michael Ranta

Michael Ranta is an Associate Professor of Art History at Stockholm University since 2017 and a visiting professor at Sichuan University (China) since 2018. He holds a PhD in Art History from Stockholm University (2000). His research focuses on the representation of action and time in visual arts, particularly exploring how images narrate stories and imply meta-narratives through interdisciplinary lenses combining art history, semiotics, narratology, and cognitive psychology.

Ranta has participated in major projects like the Swedish Research Council-funded 'From Shapes to Action (SHACT)' (2022–2025) and contributed to studies on Scandinavian rock art narratives. He has presented at international conferences including the International Congress of Aesthetics and the World Congress of Semiotics.

Publications include monographs such as How Pictures Tell Stories: Essays on Pictorial Narrativity (2022) and over 30 peer-reviewed articles on topics like pictorial narrativity, propaganda imagery, and Bronze Age petroglyphs. His work bridges prehistoric art interpretation with modern cognitive theories.