All of these PDFs feature at least one artwork from our collection or a special exhibition, and include high-resolution color images, background information, questions for viewing, and activity ideas. We hope you find creative ways to integrate these resources into your curricula, and that they help promote student engagement.
Learn more about our collection with our searchable database, which indicates artworks on view and their locations.
Share your teaching stories with us! If you use these materials, let us know by emailing school.programs@brooklynmuseum.org.
Explore our newest learning resources!
Bring the Brooklyn Museum’s collection into your classroom with our free, digital resources! Visit teach.brooklynmuseum.org to explore lesson plans, activities, and more, designed to deepen students' learning through the arts.
BkM Art Hangout lesson plans, geared toward students ages 9–14, engage learners with contemporary works from our collection and explore hands-on artistic processes:
Debris Sculptures, inspired by Yuji Agematsu
Musical Compositions, inspired by Stuart Davis
Diary Drawings, inspired by Byron Kim
Deconstructed Collage, inspired by Mark Bradford
Staged Photographs, inspired by Kehinde Wiley
Wrapped Sculptures, inspired by Judith Scott
Annotated Photographs, inspired by Wendy Red Star
Mixed-Media Self-Portraits, inspired by Nick Cave
Layered Drawings, inspired by Julie Mehretu
Everyday Object Structures, inspired by Beverly Buchanan
While we recommend these resources for elementary students, they may be adjusted to support middle and high school students.
American Art:
Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford (Grades K–5)
Joseph Stella, “The Virgin” Collection Highlight
Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera
John Singer Sargent Watercolors
Fine Lines: American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum
Francis Guy, “Winter Scene in Brooklyn” Collection Highlight
Arts of Africa:
Disguise: Masks and Global African Art
Unidentified Kongo artist, “Power Figure” Collection Highlight
Arts of the Islamic World:
Prince Yahya Collection Highlight
Arts of Asia:
Arts of China Teaching Toolkit
Arts of East Asia Teaching Toolkit
“Wine Jar with Fish and Aquatic Plants,” China, early 14th century Collection Highlight
Contemporary Art:
Ai Weiwei: According to What?
Jesper Just: Romantic Delusions
Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection
© MURAKAMI
Sun K. Kwak: Enfolding 280 Hours
Ron Mueck
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art:
Zanele Muholi: Isibonelo/Evidence
Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey
The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago Long-term installation
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art:
Unknown Roman artist, “Mosaic of Lion” Collection Highlight
“Nefertiti,” Egypt, Amarna Period Collection Highlight
Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses
European Art:
Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea
While we recommend these resources for middle school students, they may be adjusted to support elementary and high school students.
American Art:
HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
Thomas Hart Benton, “Louisiana Rice Fields” Collection Highlight
Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties
Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties
Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains
Arts of Africa:
Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui
Gora Mbengue, “Al-Buraq” Collection Highlight
Arts of the Americas:
“From Spanish and Indian, Mestizo,” Mexico, early 18th century Collection Highlight (Spanish and English)
Huastec artist, “Life-Death Figure” Collection Highlight
Contemporary Art:
Agitprop!
Question Bridge: Black Males
Kehinde Wiley, “Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps” Collection Highlight
Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk—An Introspective
The Eye of the Artist: The Work of Devorah Sperber
Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present
Keith Haring: 1978–1982
Joe Overstreet, “Power Flight” Collection Highlight
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art:
Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound
Lorna Simpson: Gathered
Kiki Smith: Sojourn
“Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts
Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanitary Fair of 1864
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art:
To Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
Unearthing the Truth: Egypt’s Pagan and Coptic Sculpture
European Art:
James Tissot: “The Life of Christ”
While we recommend these resources for high school students, they may be adjusted to support elementary and middle school students.
American Art:
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008
Valerie Hegarty: Alternative Histories
American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection
Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford
Contemporary Art:
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe
Fred Tomaselli
Yinka Shonibare MBE
Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art:
Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection
Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958–1968
Materializing “Six Years”: Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art
Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern Art:
The Fertile Goddess
European Art:
Impressionism and the Caribbean: Francisco Oller and His Transatlantic World