Founded in 1978, Art History’s publication since then, and the on-going changes of which it is a testament, chart not only the history of a journal but of the discipline whose name it bears. New intellectual developments, innovations in editorial vision, shifts in publishing methods and technologies, have and continue to shape its content and design. In the spirit of reading, writing, and remembering, the collected essays of this special issue commemorate Art History’s fortieth anniversary, as a celebration of the journal’s past, present and future. The journal’s history of editors, 1978-2017, are gathered together for the first time. Dedicated to a shared engagement with the image and the problem of memory, as arguably key to defining the conceptual practices, history and current trajectory of the discipline, these essays celebrate forty years of publication.