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Artworks that Show Line

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself needing to teach a lesson on one of the elements and principles of art, but it takes a bit of digging to find good examples of art that teach that particular element. To help those in that situation, I have created an elements and principles series that includes lists of example artworks you can use in your elements and principles of art lessons.

Finding the right artwork to teach the elements of art can take time. That’s why I created this Elements & Principles series—to help you skip the endless search and get straight to powerful, conversation-starting artworks.

Below, you’ll find artworks that clearly demonstrate the many types of line—perfect for your next lesson or student project.

👉 Want a printable to go with it? Grab the free Elements & Principles Pack below. Click the yellow “Download” button.

Free Resource!

* Elements & Principles Printable Pack *

The Elements & Principles of Art are the foundation of every artwork, but teaching them can be a bore. Wake your students up and engage them with full color artworks, easy to understand definitions, and thought-provoking higher level thinking questions. This versatile resource can be hung in the classroom or used as an art manipulative.

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Inside: A curated list of artworks that show the different types of line in art—including implied lines, gesture lines, contour lines, expressive lines, and more. 

👉 This post is part of the Elements of Art series—explore them all to build a complete foundation for your classroom.

Download the Free Elements and Principles Printable Pack

This pack of printables was designed to work in a variety of ways in your classroom when teaching the elements and principles of art. You can print and hang in your classroom as posters/anchor charts or you can cut each element and principle of art in its own individual card to use as a lesson manipulative.

Examples of Types of Line in Art

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Types of Line in Art - General

Artworks that Show Line, General

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Art

Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Art

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Diagonal Lines in Art

Diagonal Lines in Artworks

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Contour Lines and Outlines

Contour Lines and/or Outlines

Gesture Lines, Lines that Show Movement

Want to explore how line leads the eye and creates movement in art? Check out these rhythm in art examples to see visual flow in action.

Lines that Help Guide The Viewer’s Eye through the Picture and/or Implied Lines

Lines that Show Feeling/Emotion, Expressive Lines

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Repetition and Pattern

Repetition of Line, Pattern Using Line, Decorative Line

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Lines in Architecture

Lines in Architecture

Lines in Sculpture

Lines that Show Texture and/or Shading

Lines that Show Space and/or Linear Perspective

Lines the Show Emphasis

💡 Want more done-for-you lessons like this?

The Curated Connections Library gives you full access to hundreds of art appreciation resources, trainings, and classroom-ready materials.
👉 Click here to learn more.

Elements and Principles Teaching Bundle

This extraordinary bundle includes the best resources for teaching each of the elements and principles—37 worksheets/handouts, 15 lessons (with accompanying PowerPoints and Handouts), 3 ready-to-go art analysis activities, 3 art analysis videos, and 13 elements and principle PDF articles.

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There you have it! The best types of line in art examples for your elements and principles of art lessons. Want more elements and principles of art teacher resources? Check out the below posts.

The Art Curator for Kids -Example Artworks that Show Space - The Elements and Principles of Art Series-300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Line - The Elements and Principles of Art - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Emphasis - The Elements and Principles of Art SeriesElements and Principles of Art - Artworks that Show Proportion in art and ScaleThe Art Curator for Kids - Elements and Principles of Art Series - Artworks that Show Shape - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Why I Hate the Elements and Principles But Teach Them Anyway - 300The Art Curator for Kids - How Artists Depict Space - Masterpiece Monday - John Sloan , South Beach Bathers, 1907-1908, Art Lessons for Kids - Elements of Art Lessons

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Art Around the World in 30 Days – Day #24 – Colombia’s Fernando Botero

Masterpiece Monday - Amazing Works from Art History Each Week at the Art Curator for Kids - Art History for Kids, Art Appreciation for Kids

*sigh* I love Fernando Botero. He’s awesome.

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Around the World - Colombia - Fernando Botero, Dancing in Colombia, 1980, Fernando Botero Lesson, Art History for Kids, Contemporary Art for Kids
Fernando Botero, Dancing in Colombia, 1980, Fernando Botero Lesson, Art History for Kids, Contemporary Art for Kids
Fernando Botero, Dancing in Colombia, 1980

Another annoying question mark over the image thanks to copyright issues. Here is a thumbnail of this artwork. Click on the image or right here to see this artwork bigger.

Fernando Botero is a Colombian artist and probably one of the most famous artists alive right now. He traveled extensively in Europe when he was a young man and was greatly inspired by artists like Pablo Picasso who took the world and turned it on end. Changing perspective and proportion in art, Botero’s signature style includes very smooth and bold images of oversized people. He creates both painting and sculpture in this same stye.

I really love the way the Met Museum describes the piece:

[Botero] is a great storyteller, especially when inspired by scenes remembered from his native Colombia. Often depicting scenes of leisure activity, his satirical renderings may seem humorous at first, though they are often laden with social and political commentary. Dancing in Colombia depicts a lively café filled with music and dance. The small room seems overcrowded with seven huge musicians, two smaller dancers, and a rounded jukebox. . . . One can imagine the intoxicating confluence of loud music and odors of sweat, tobacco, liquor, and cheap cologne that fill the space. – Met Museum

Botero Art Discussion Questions

  1. What’s going on in this picture? Who are these people? What is the story being told?
  2. What would it feel like to be in this place? What would you hear? smell? feel? taste? see?
  3. How did this artist use line, color, and movement?

Fernando Botero Lesson

Botero’s work has such great depiction of people. His work is perfect for some character analysis and story telling activities.

I have MANY character worksheets in my free art appreciation worksheets and in my 20-pack of worksheets including: Twitter Perspectives, Write a Letter, Exploring Place: The 5 Senses, Send a postcard, The 5 Ws and H, Storyboard, Character Analysis, “I am” Character Poem, What do they see? Drawing.

Art Appreciation Worksheet Bundle

This art worksheets bundle from the Art Class Curator includes 25 ready-to-use art worksheets for use with individual works of art. The worksheets for art in this document are designed to work with lots of different types of artworks, so you can just pick an artwork, print a worksheet, and start the activity. Each has instructions at the top and plenty of space to do the activity.

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Also, check out these posts on Art Class Curator about story and character:

More Botero Art

I wanted to keep writing, but it didn’t fit in well in my Botero lesson above, so here it is. 🙂

His artwork is delightful, but there are many artworks with stronger, more emotional, and more political subjects. He did a series of paintings on the awful torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in 2004-05. I hate to keep comparing him to Picasso, but Picasso’s trajectory was similar in a way. For the majority of his career, Picasso did artworks of lighter subjects and focused on women and children until the bombing of Guernica by the Nazis pushed him to make a political statement with his art.

Botero did 87 drawings and paintings of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Here’s an article with an interview of the artist. Beware these artworks are graphic and unsettling.

I would not show younger kids the Abu Ghraib works although it may be a good conversation to have with older kids–how we can use artwork to process our feelings and document. Botero himself said:

Art is important in time. It brings some kind of reflection to the matter. We have analyzed this thing from editorial pages and books, but somehow this vision by an artist completes what happened. He can make visible what’s invisible, what cannot be photographed. In a photo, you just do a click, but in art you have to put in so much energy. This concentration of energy and attention says something that other media cannot say. – Fernando Botero [Source]

That’s it! Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the artwork in the comments. Click here to find more art from around the world, and come back tomorrow for a trip to Kazakhstan!

The Art Curator for Kids - Art Around the World in 30 Days - Experience Art with Your Kids400

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