Classroom Tools for High-School and College
Teaching a high school or college-level class in art or art history? Artsy can help.
With high-res, downloadable images of iconic works of art, as well as rich editorial content, Artsy is your educational gateway to the world of art. Browse categories and find works from history such as Greek and Roman Art, the Renaissance, or the 17th Century; guide yourself through ground-breaking 20th century movements like Bauhaus, Surrealism, and Pop Art; or compare historical categories like Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, with present-day ones like Contemporary African Art.
Explore the artist’s studio with Artsy
Use Artsy’s “In the Studio” features with artists like Mickalene Thomas, street artist JR, and emerging painters in New York’s 1717 Troutman building, to understand how contemporary artists work with various media, their sources of inspiration, the books they read, and more. In Artsy’s feature on the Egyptian mixed-media artist Ghada Amer, Artsy visited her studio and explored her sewing and embroidery station, took a look at her source materials and inspiration wall, and discussed her current works in progress.
Write reviews on Artsy
Use Artsy’s homepage as a listings resource for information on current museum and gallery exhibitions, then encourage your students to exercise their writing and critical thinking chops by posting reviews on the site, alongside high-res images. Artsy editors are always on the lookout for great posts to feature.
Supplement literature and language studies with artworks
Teaching a literature class? Bring the subject to life with artworks that delve into the literary greats, such as Sir John Everett Millais’s exquisite painting of Shakespeare's Ophelia; or compare and contrast how works across mediums and time periods represent broad literary themes like Love, Mortality, Gender Politics, Conflict, Narrative, and Family.
Teaching a class in Arabic, Chinese, or any other foreign language? Artsy has artworks ready to enrich your curriculum. Familiarize yourself with works that feature Arabic, Farsi, East Asian Calligraphy, or traditional scroll paintings, for example, to expand the language with visual culture.
Illustrate history classes with images of historical events and global cultures
From Jacques Louis David’s representation of Napoleon Bonaparte crossing the Saint-Bernard to Faith Ringgold’s powerful reflections on the Civil Rights movement and race in America, artists throughout history have produced rich perspectives on their worlds, representing major events, and using their artwork to express social and political ideals or polemics.
Other artworks that double up as historical resources include the death of General Wolfe, captured by painter Benjamin West, and the work of Ai Weiwei, who responds to and interrogates the legacy of the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s.
Learn about the art market
From auction houses and galleries, to museums and art foundations, there are numerous avenues into work in the arts. Learning about the nuts and bolts of the art market is critical to developing a career in the industry. Find out about emerging markets and trends in posts from Artsy Collecting, or school yourself on the basics of collecting with Artsy’s New Collector’s Guide.
Use Artsy to Teach Studio Art
Whether you are conducting a studio art class or giving feedback to a peer, Artsy can be a great resource for educators and students alike.
Working on portraiture? Explore our array of related categories, such as Portrait, Group Portrait, Group of Portraits, Self-Portrait, Animal Portrait, or even the “face” tag.
Browse research tendencies in contemporary portraiture, such as Contemporary Portrait Photography, Contemporary Realist Portraiture, or Contemporary Portrait Painting.
Teaching painting? Expand on your knowledge of painting techniques by looking at high resolution, zoomable examples of impasto, sfumato, chiaroscuro, or en plein air. Compare the use of pigment in oil painting versus tempera. For more, browse through Figurative Painting and Abstract Painting to see how these broad mediums have evolved over time.
Instructing students in drawing? Use our collection of Old Master drawings and prints to investigate classic drafting and figure studies. Look at drawing techniques like hatching or gestural.
