National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts: World Myths and Legends in Art
Fully comprehensive site that dives into world myths and world cultures. View art that expresses mythological themes from various cultures around the world and learn about cultural similarities and differences. Key words for learning,...
University of Michigan
Symbolism in Visual Images
Brief essay on visual symbolism in literature and art. Provides examples and nice images. Shows that visual images can have the same type of symbolism as literary works.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Symbols in a Story: What's What?
Interact with a work of art to discover how symbolism is portrayed with different characters and elements.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Idea Lab: Myths in Words and Pictures
Interactive website in which students learn about myth and symbols in art and storytelling. Engaging and informative with images and informational text.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Look for the Symbol in the Sculpture
This websites answers the question, "What is a Symbol?" Click on the sculptures for a description of the symbols in each work.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African Art: Artful Animals
African artists commonly base their work on animals observed in their natural habitats. Artful Animals lets you view African art that takes animals as its subject and inspiration. Learn about animals as symbols in African art, the beauty...
Other
Artyfactory: Color in Art Color Theory Ii, "Color as Symbol"
Color theroy II, "Color as Symbol", from artyfactory ia an introduction to color theory in Art. This page provides an explanation of what each color is used to represent visually in art and what emotions each color represents.
University of Michigan
University of Michigan: Online Symbolism Dictionary
Great website where you can look up literary symbols in a searchable index. For each symbol there is a brief explanation of its significance and links to other related symbols.
Read Works
Read Works: Forms of Art Symbolism
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text on symbolism in art. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Other
Color Theory and Mixing: 16 Lessons in Color Theory
Complete site on using color in art. Includes the history of color, psychology of color, color perspective, and how color changes depending on the medium used. Includes activities to help understand how to use color in your art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Symbolism
This websites provides a detailed article about symbolism in art.
The National Gallery (UK)
National Gallery, London: Festival of Light
Follow this museum trail and discover through seven paintings how different cultures have used light as a form of symbolism in their work.
Other
Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages
Bestiaries, illustrated volumes of animals and birds, were an expression of the intersection of the natural and religious worlds in medieval art and science. At this large database on the subject, you can learn about the symbolic content...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Popular Mexican Arts
This site has a curriculum unit for high school students on popular Mexican art. Provides four lesson plans, links, a bibliography, and even video suggestions.
A&E Television
History.com: How Cats Became Divine Symbols in Ancient Egypt
Along with hieroglyphics, obelisks and geometric patterns, cats feature prominently in ancient Egyptian art, reflecting the animal's unique status among the people who dwelled along the Nile River. The animals were initially adopted as...
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College: Mqed: Geometry in Art and Architecture
Learners learn about art and mathematics. Topics include the golden ratio, platonic solids, and number symbolism. The learning resource includes a description, requirements, syllabus, and bibliography.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts: African Myths in Art
This site offers three African myth symbols and artwork, along with the stories and background information that go with them, plus discussion questions and answers.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: The Airplane as a Symbol of Modernism
Through art and text, lesson explores Modernism through the airplane as a symbol in the 1920s. Content includes questions for analysis and discussion, follow-up, and guide for discussing art.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Cave Art Discovering Prehistoric Humans
By studying cave paintings, students learn about prehistoric cultures and the stories and ideas they wished to communicate to others through art. The lesson plan presented on this website aims to show young students the significance of...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Arts and Humanities: Art of Asia
A landing page for a course on the art history of Asia.
Arizona State University
Arts Work: Communicating Feelings Through Shape & Color
A lesson plan to help young scholars understand the use of symbols and images to express their feelings through their artwork. A great lesson plan to boost students' self esteem. Has a link to a site with examples of Kandinsky's work.
Arizona State University
Arts Work: Communicating Feelings Through Shape & Color
A lesson plan to help students understand the use of symbols and images to express their feelings through their artwork. A great lesson plan to boost students' self esteem. Has a link to a site with examples of Kandinsky's work.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Sf Mo Ma Art Think: A Personal Narrative
Find a matched set of activities--each with a slightly different disciplinary emphasis--that takes participants through a close examination of the work of contemporary California artists Joan Brown and Jay DeFeo. Their work often...