Ancient Art
Poetry and Art
created 2014
Discover myriad lessons, ideas, and multimedia that explore creative expression and inquiry at the crossroads of poetry and visual art.

Ancient Art
Ancient Art
created 2014
Bringing together lessons, activities, videos, and information about antiquity, this page gathers materials related to the themes and subjects of ancient art.

The Cyrus Cylinder: Classroom Guides
The Cyrus Cylinder: Classroom Guides
created 2013
Students explore the Cyrus Cylinder and related objects in the Getty Villa's collection to learn about ancient Persian art and culture.

Art & Science: A Curriculum for K-12 Teachers
Art & Science: A Curriculum for K–12 Teachers
created 2007, updated 2013
Art and science meet in in this curriculum, which addresses the science of art production, conservation, and scholarship using the Getty's artworks and conservation practices.

Looking at Decorative Arts
Looking at Decorative Arts: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
created 2003, updated 2013
Explore decorative arts with your class and discover ways to engage your students in the investigation of objects used in the daily life of the French nobility. This curriculum examines furniture, tapestries, porcelain, and scientific objects.

Art and Language Arts: Ideas for the Classroom
Art & Language Arts: Ideas for the Classroom
created 2002, updated 2012
These lessons were created and tested in the classroom by Los Angeles-area elementary teachers. Each lesson uses works of art in the Getty Museum's collection to enhance skills in language and visual arts.

Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum (Beginning Level)
Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum
(Beginning Level)

created 2012
ESL students at the beginning level build language skills by looking at and describing paintings, decorative arts, and photographs focused on people, things, and places.

When Art Talks curriculum
When Art Talks
created 2012
The materials in this curriculum are designed for a variety of English–language developmental levels. The lessons begin with identifying and developing new vocabulary, and progress to discussion and writing poetry about the work of art.

Exploring Photographs
Exploring Photographs
created 2007, updated 2012
Enhance learning on any theme, topic, or historical period that is expressed by, or documented in, photographs. This curriculum provides students in middle and high school and their teachers with the tools to analyze photography.

Stories in Art Curriculum
Stories in Art
created 2011
Engage students with works of art that tell stories through narrative art. Each lesson uses works of art in the Getty Museum's collection to enhance skills in language and visual arts.

Art & Architecture Curriculum
Art & Architecture
created 2011
These interdisciplinary lessons are designed for elementary and secondary teachers to prompt discussion and activities related to architecture-inspired art in the J. Paul Getty Museum collection.

Villa Summer Institute Curriculum
Villa Summer Institute: Ideas for the Classroom
created 2011
Interdisciplinary lessons created by teachers who have participated in the annual Villa Summer Institute. Each lesson uses works of art in the Getty Villa's collection and other resources to enhance skills in the visual arts and other disciplines.

Performing Arts in Art
Performing Arts in Art
created 2011
Explore works of art that depict subjects related to music, dance, theater, and storytelling. Engage students in diverse topics in the disciplines of visual art, performing arts, history, and language arts.

Secondary Teachers' Institute Curriculum
Secondary Teachers' Institute: Ideas for the Classroom
created 2011
Interdisciplinary lessons created by Los Angeles teachers who participated in our Secondary Teachers' Institute. Each uses works of art in the Museum's collection to creatively enhance skills in the visual arts and other disciplines.

Historical Witness, Social Messaging
Historical Witness, Social Messaging
created 2008, updated 2009
Engage students with works of art that explore social, environmental, and political issues while teaching them about costs and consequences of significant events in U.S. and world history.

Working with Sculpture
Working with Sculpture
created 2008, updated 2009
Explore sculpture with your students by examining the distinct ways artists have explored three-dimensional form throughout art history.

Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?
Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?
created 2008
Challenge your students to discover how "traditional" works of art in the Getty Museum's collection have inspired and informed contemporary artists.

When Impressionism Was a Dirty Word
When Impressionism Was a Dirty Word
created 2008
In these lessons, students explore examples of the Impressionist style, artists that influenced the Impressionist painters, and learn why the art movement was reviled in the art world of late-19th-century France.

Gods, Heroes and Monsters: Mythology in European Art
Gods, Heroes and Monsters: Mythology in European Art
created 2007
Engage your students in the investigation of ancient Greek and Roman mythology. These stories from antiquity are the foundation of Western art and literature and have been studied and reinterpreted over the centuries.

Visualizing Devotion
Visualizing Devotion
adapted 2006 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
Two lessons encourage students to think about how artists engage with religion in different ways—as participants in the creation of organized religious spaces, and as observers and documenters of the religious rituals of another culture.

Artful Women
Artful Women
adapted 2006 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
Celebrate the history of women in art with stories of unique and amazing women. These lessons for primary grades cover themes of adornment, women as artists, and women's roles in the family.

Landscapes, Classical to Modern: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
Landscapes, Classical to Modern: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
created 2006
Explore landscapes with your students with this curriculum covering the history of French landscape painting. By studying landscape art, students gain a sense of nature and history, and learn to see their own surroundings more clearly.

Telling Stories in Art
Telling Stories in Art
created 2006
These lessons explore how artists use color, line, gesture, composition, and symbolism to tell a story. Students will interpret and create narratives based upon works of art.

Scenes from the Headlines: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
Scenes from the Headlines: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
created 2005
Investigate photojournalistic images from the 1940s through the 1970s. These photographs were used to illustrate stories in newspapers and magazines, providing visual accounts of events that have shaped 20th-century history.

Looking and Learning in the Art Museum (Grades K-5)
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum (Grades K–5)
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
Take your students to a local art museum! These lessons prepare your elementary school students for a visit to an art museum, including a lesson in the museum galleries.

Looking and Learning in the Art Museum (Grades 6-12)
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum (Grades 6–12)
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
Take your students to a local art museum! These lessons prepare your middle and high school students for a visit to an art museum, including a lesson in the museum galleries.

Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum (Intermediate Level)
Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum (Intermediate Level)
created 2005
Adult ESL students at the intermediate level build language skills by looking at and describing still lifes, decorative arts, and photographs.

Expressing Emotions through Art
Expressing Emotions through Art
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
This unit encourages children in primary grades to express thoughts and feelings depicted in works of art with art activities in drawing, painting, and three-dimensional construction.

Shaping Ideas: Symbolism in Sculpture
Shaping Ideas: Symbolism in Sculpture
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
These lessons explore the ways symbols can be incorporated into three-dimensional art forms. Students design, sketch, and build their own symbolic sculpture.

Still-Life Painting: Arranging Nature
Still-Life Painting: Arranging Nature
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
In this curriculum, students will examine the genre of still-life painting. Lessons focus both on the artist's arrangement and choice of objects that symbolize abstract ideas, as well as his or her direct observation of nature.

Ceramics: A Vessel into History
Ceramics: A Vessel into History
adapted 2005 from original ArtsEdNet curriculum
In these lessons students explore ways that ceramic vessels can give clues about their use in the past and provide insight into the cultures that created them.

Neoclassicism and the Enlightenment: A Curriculum for Middle and High School Teachers
Neoclassicism and the Enlightenment: A Curriculum for Middle and High School Teachers
created 2005
These materials focus on the artistic movement Neoclassicism and its relationship to the Enlightenment. Lessons explore artworks from Europe and America as manifestations of the cultural, political, and scientific ideals of the era.

Asian Influences on European Art
Asian Influences on European Art
created 2005
In the 18th-century, European artists borrowed decorative forms from faraway lands such as China, Japan, India, and the Middle East. These lessons explore this trend, called chinoiserie, through textiles, furniture, ceramics, and painting.

Looking at Illuminated Manuscripts
Looking at Illuminated Manuscripts: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
created 2004
Engage your students in the investigation of illuminated manuscripts, books written and decorated entirely by hand. Lessons explore different styles of illuminated manuscripts from the 12th through the 16th century.

Looking at Portraits: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
Looking at Portraits: Lessons and Ideas for Discussion
created 2003
Engage your students in the investigation and creation of portraits. Lesson plans, suggested questions, and activities prompt discussion and activities about six different portraits.

Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
Language through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
created 2003, updated 2007
Adult ESL students at the intermediate and advanced levels build language skills by looking at and describing portraits, landscapes, and narrative works of art.

About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Curriculum
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Curriculum
created 2002
These lessons explore various aspects of Dorothea Lange's photography. The curriculum also includes background materials, a timeline, image bank, and other resources.