I have compiled for you a massive list of artworks for you to look at with your kids this year. I picked one artwork for each week of the year, and I tried to pick the best of the best. If you haven’t been showing art to your kids, this is a great list to start with! Just sit down and talk about a new artwork each week for a few minutes.
Please note, this post includes Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
How to Talk about Art with Your Kids
Here are some posts from Art Class Curator for tips at looking at art with your kids.
- How to Look at Art with your Children
- How to Look at Art with Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Charlotte Mason Picture Study: An Easy Way to Introduce Art to your Kids
Art Appreciation for Kids
Instead of dividing by week, I divided by time period. Regrettably, this list does not include non-western art or contemporary art. For more awesome non-western art, check out my Art Around the World series. Each entry below includes a link to find the picture.
Ancient to Classical Art
- Prehistoric, Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), c. 28,000-25,000 B.C.E (On ACFK, 5 Artworks to Promote Introspection) (Buy replica on Amazon)
- Sumer, the Standard of Ur, about 2600-2400 B.C.E. (Book about this artwork)
- The Law Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon, c. 1750 B.C.E (Book about Hammurabi’s Code)
- Ancient Egyptian, Palette of King Narmer, c. 3000-2920 B.C.E.
- Myron (Ancient Greek), Discus-thrower (Discobolus), Roman copy of a bronze original of the 5th century BC (Book about this artwork)
- Hellenistic Greek, Laocoön and His Sons, early first century C.E.
- Ancient Roman, Augustus of Primaporta, first century, C.E.
- Ancient Roman, The Alexander Mosaic, ca. 100 BC (Poster of this artwork)
Medieval and Renaissance Art
- Byzantine, Justinian and his Attendants, Basilica di San Vitale, 547 C.E
- Gothic, Chartres Cathedral (Book about Chartres)
- Jan and Hubert van Eyk, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Ghent Altarpiece), 1432 (Book about the Nazi theft of this artwork)
- Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482-85 (Poster of this artwork)
- Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, 1498 (Print of this artwork on wood)
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Sistene Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
- Raphael, School of Athens, 1509-11 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Slaves or Prisoners, ca. 1520-23
17th-18th Century Art
- Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1614-20 (On ACFK, Masterpiece Monday) (Novel about the Artist)
- Gianlorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-25 (Replica of this sculpture)
- Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630
- Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642 (Canvas print of this artwork)
- Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656 (On ACFK, 20 Great Artworks to Look at with Young Kids) (Poster of this artwork)
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767 (Poster of this artwork)
- Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1785 (Poster of this artwork)
19th-Century Art
- Francisco Goya, Third of May, 1808 (Mouse pad of this artwork)
- Eugène Delacroix, July 28: Liberty Leading the People, 1830 (Poster of this artwork)
- William Turner, Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840 (Poster of this artwork)
- Claude Monet, Les Nymphéas (The Water Lilies), 1840-1926 (Monet magnets)
- Jean-François Millet, L’Angélus, c. 1857-1859
- Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
- Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais, 1884-95 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
- Paul Gauguin, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, 1897-98
- Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889 (On ACFK, 5 Exciting Art History Projects for Kids that Made me Say “WOW!”) (Umbrella of this artwork)
Modern and Contemporary Art
- Henri Matisse, Harmony in Red/La Desserte, 1908 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
- Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1910 (Inflatable Scream Doll)
- Franz Marc, Fate of the Animals, 1913 (On ACFK, Art Spotlight: Franz Marc’s Fate of the Animals)
- Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911 (On ACFK, 5 Artworks Your Children will Love) (Poster of this artwork)
- Wassily Kandinsky, Panel for Edwin R. Campbell No. 4, 1914
- Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931 (Melting clock)
- Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
- Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939 (On ACFK, 5 Artworks to Intrigue Your High Schooler) (Poster of this artwork)
- Jackson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, 1950 (Book about this artwork)
- Francis Bacon, Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953 (On ACFK, Art Around the World in 30 Days – Ireland)
- Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962 (Converse shoes of this artwork)
- Robert Rauschenberg, Skyway, 1964
- Andy Goldsworthy, Fall Leaves (On ACFK, 5 Exciting Art History Projects for Kids that Made me Say “WOW!”) (Book about this artist)
American Art
- John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778 (On ACFK: Charlotte Mason Picture Study: John Singleton Copley)
- Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
- John Singer Sargent, El Jaleo, 1882 (Poster of this artwork)
- Frederic Remington, A Dash for the Timber, 1889 (Poster of this artwork)
- Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 (Children’s book about this artist)
- Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, 1940-41 (Children’s book about this series)
- Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942 (Poster of this artwork)
Whew! This is quite a list. It was hard to choose, and I know I left out some great artworks. Keep reading on Art Class Curator to learn more about teaching art to kids.
More Art Class Curator on Pinterest:
Thank you. I am so glad I found you. I home school without curriculum and was feeling sort of lost when it came to art. I cannot thank you enough. This list will be my go-to this year. Thank you Thank you! <3
Thank you so much! I’m so excited you are finding this useful! Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi! I am looking to create a blog for my art classes. I’m wondering where you began.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Ellen! I started on WordPress.com. You can easily set up a free blog on there, and it is really easy to figure out what to do once you are in. You can also try blogger.com for a free blog. Once you get it set up, I’d love to add the link to my reader, so let me know the link. 🙂
I’m a recent college grad with a bachelors in Art History as well and I was just tasked with creating a summer Art History class for kids! I know the history and works and I know how to talk about art – but I don’t really know how to do it for kids or what is appropriate. I’m so glad I found this list and your blog! Thanks!
Awesome! Sounds like a fun project. 🙂 Good luck! If you need any more recommendations, check out this book. It was written by students from my grad school program, and it is full of ideas for how to engage with art with kids. Experience Art: A Handbook for Teaching and Learning with Works of Art (Affiliate link)
This book looks interesting! I just ordered a copy. 🙂
I’m not sure I know what book you are talking about. Thanks for the share on your FB page. 🙂
Hi, I like the idea of presenting 52 Artists through out the year! But I count only 3 women – is there a possibility to balance this a bit more – next time? I am sure there are more than 3 famous female artists who are worth to be taught to kids.
Best wishes Natalie from Germany
Ahh! You are exactly right. Thanks for pointing that out! Usually I am very deliberate about of making sure I have women artists and artists of color in all of my collections of artists, but I missed that on this one! This one was so hard, so I just thought of all the art movements I wanted to cover and then picked the top one in my mind. I do have lots of women artists featured on the website though in case you want more women artists: Bettye Saar, Dorothea Lange, Mary Cassatt, Hanaa Malallah, Artemisia Gentileschi, Lorna Simpson, Beatriz Milhazes, Frida Kahlo, among others. 🙂 I have one scheduled on August 5 of Marie-Denise Villers as well. 🙂
I’m a bit confused on how to get to the art to save the free ones. Can someone help me on this? Is this offering 52 art pictures?
No, you just click the links to get the images. If you want to save them and you are on a PC, right click the image and choose save.
Thanks Cindy for your kind sharing of all of these knowledge and experience. I am very grateful. Do the hard copy exist or only ebooks are available i.e. “A year of Art Appreciation: 52 Art Works your child should know”? Please advise and thanks once again.
No, this is just a blog post with the list. That is a great idea turning it into a print book! I’ll look into that. 🙂
I am sad to see so few women on your list. It’s heartbreaking! I see the comment above about the same thing and will look further into your website, but would be nice to add them to this landing page as well.
What a wonderful site. Thank you. Never mind educating the kids, I am using this to educate and enrich myself one piece of art a day in my marking breaks! (English teacher…)
Hi,
Thank you for this wonderful art. Is there a way to print them in a way that I can out them in a binder for kids to use?
Hello and you’re welcome! We do not have an easy way to print all of the Artworks from this blog. Our series Around the World in 30 Days has printable Artworks that you might enjoy and find useful.
Hello and you’re welcome! We do not have an easy way to print these pieces of Art, yet. We do have printable art on our Around the World in 30 Days blog, perhaps that would be helpful for you to use.