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15 Artworks to Spark Conversation in Your Virtual Classroom

Explore the artworks below and discover conversation starters for your students. This resource is also available as a slide presentation. 

Three people with dark brown skin lie on a marigold-orange ground that extends toward a high horizon line in this stylized, vertical painting. An ant and two other bugs cling to a screen of tall, moss-green, flame-shaped leaves that span the width of the composition and separate us from the people. Beyond the leaves, the large soles and rounded toes of the woman’s feet are almost half the height of the painting. She holds a rifle against her body, which is enclosed in a mostly round, periwinkle-blue shape with narrow strips of cranberry-red around the top, left, and bottom. Her head is tilted sharply to our left, her ear near her shoulder so her face points upward in profile. Her nose and mouth are created with thin strokes of golden yellow. Her closed eyes are marked with slivers of white, and a raspberry-pink scarf covers her hair. A slender green stem with pointed leaves rises at an angle next to her head. Beyond her, a man lies with his body curled, so his body curves toward us with his head to our right. He wears only black, shin-length pants. His bald head rests on crossed arms, and his ankles are also crossed. His closed eyes are painted with white and his features outlined in gold, like the woman. Just behind him, a woman curls around an object held in one large hand. Fields of pink and blue, in the same shades as the other woman, read as a blue cap and skirt, and a pink wrap or blanket. A round, brown shape within an off-white field appears to be a baby cradled close to her head. One tall, blade-like leaf grows up behind her shoulders. The orange ground comes to a point to our left of center and dips down to our right. The area beneath the straight horizon line is filled in with midnight blue, nearly black. Above, a sapphire-blue band fills the top quarter of the composition. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “Jacob Lawrence 67.”

Jacob Lawrence, Daybreak - A Time to Rest, 1967, tempera on hardboard, Anonymous Gift, 1973.8.1

Find these details in this painting:

Baby in mother’s arms
Harriet Tubman’s feet
Walking stick (a symbol of the walking stick that Tubman used)
Ant (a symbol of something small that carries a large load on its back)

Do you think this artwork shows strength? How? Reflect on your heroes. What are their strengths?

Explore more about this artwork here

Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996, cast 1997, bronze with silver nitrate patina, Gift of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, 1997.136.1

Imagine if this sculpture came to life. How would it move? How might people react to it? What do you think the spider would want to do?

Explore more about this artwork in a resource for pre-K kids here

Shown from the lap up, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a goldenrod-yellow dress, sits reading a small book, facing our left in profile in this vertical painting. The deep, scooped neckline of her rich yellow gown is edged with lace and decorated with a mauve-purple bow at the bust. Her chest is covered by sheer white fabric under a ruffled, pleated collar. The ruff is tied at the back with another mauve bow, and a ribbon of the same color ties up her chestnut-brown hair. She has a delicate nose and rosebud mouth, and she tips her head down to read the book she holds in one hand. She sits against an oversize pillow streaked with pale lilac and deep rose pink. Her left arm, closer to us, is draped over a railing that extends across the width of the canvas. The background behind her is streaked with tan and muted teal blue. A vertical strip of light caramel brown along the right edge of the canvas suggests another wall against which the pillow rests. The artist’s loose, lively brushstrokes are visible throughout.

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Young Girl Reading, c. 1769, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Mellon Bruce in memory of her father, Andrew W. Mellon, 1961.16.1

Look carefully at the young girl depicted in this painting and imagine how she feels. What would you would like to ask her? Write down five questions and then exchange with a partner. 

Explore more about this artwork in a resource for English language learners here
 

Two large dogs approach a man lying unconscious and mostly buried in the snow in this horizontal painting. The head of the man comes toward us, at the lower center of the composition, and the dogs are close to us. In the center of the painting, a large tan and white dog has short, glossy fur and floppy ears, and its jowly mouth hangs open with the pink tongue visible. It paws at the snow partially covering most of the body of the man, who wears an olive-green coat with a fur collar and white shirt. The dog looks up to our right, and its body and white-tipped tail recede diagonally into the picture to the left. There is a red blanket with black edging over the dog’s back, and the hound wears a wide, fur-lined silver collar ornamented with metalwork lions and bells. The second dog, a dark brown brindle color, sits to the immediate left of the first dog. It gazes down at the prone person and bends its head down to lick a bare pale, pink hand that protrudes from under the snow. The brindle dog wears a small barrel around its neck on a brown buckled leather collar. The man’s dark brown hair falls over the snow. His pale gray face is upward, and his shoulders are visible while his arms splay out, and the rest of his body, extending into the picture, is covered with snow. The man’s eyes are closed. His right hand, in a tan leather glove, reaches toward us from the snow, while a green velvet cap with a red ribbon lies under the hand. The scene is enclosed by large, angular, steel and blue-gray boulders and rock formations, with two craggy pine trees above. Beyond lies a mountain landscape with a V-shaped pass at the center top framed by the steep ascent of jagged, snowy hillsides and a sliver of blue sky. A blocky stone building is nestled in among the crags to our right. On a path leading from the building, three bearded men wearing black caps and robes hurry toward the dogs. The nearest of them holds up a staff with a cross on the top and waves or signals to the men farther back along the path.

Sir Edwin Landseer, Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler, 1820, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2019.120.1

Find these details in this painting:

Dog collar with bells and lion
Small keg of brandy to revive the wounded traveler
Red blanket marked with “St B” to warm the wounded traveler
Monks from the nearby St. Bernard monastery

What do you think might happen next? What does loyalty mean to you? Discuss when and where you feel loyal. Why is this an important trait?

Explore more about this artwork here

A dish of about two dozen figs, a crusty loaf of bread, a tall, black flask, and two wooden vessels are closely gathered on a wooden table or ledge in this vertical still life painting. At the front right, the figs are either deep purple or pale green. The shallow, pale lavender-gray dish in which they are piled has a narrow, scalloped edge. The round loaf of golden-brown bread, with its split top, sits behind and to our left of the figs. In the lower left corner, next to the figs and closest to us, the handle of a knife projects toward us. Its pewter-colored blade angles back away from us. Beyond the bread is a wide-bellied, black, long-necked bottle with a cork. White reflections of windows out of our view to our left glint on the shiny, inky surface. Next to it, to our right, a small wooden barrel is about the size of an American football. At the back right, the cylindrical neck of a copper vessel pokes out of a pile of pale ice shavings, all within a keg-like bucket. The still life is set against a dark brown background.

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Figs and Bread, c. 1770, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2000.6.1

What foods do you see on this table? What favorite foods would you add to the table? What foods do you know how to make?

Explore this artwork and more in a resource for English language learners here

Verdant green fields roll in undulating waves back alongside a road in this horizontal landscape painting. The fields take up the left and center of the composition and are painted with thick, curling strokes of emerald, pea, and celery green, and corn yellow to suggest grasses and plants. The pale green road runs up along the right edge of the painting, and is layered with strokes and daubs in butter yellow, spring green, and faint blue. The fields and road meet the horizon line about halfway up the canvas, where an aquamarine-blue sky swirling with white and periwinkle-blue clouds fills the top half of the painting.

Vincent van Gogh, Green Wheat Fields, Auvers, 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2013.122.1

Imagine yourself standing in this field and describe your surroundings. What do you notice—any sounds? What’s the weather like? Do you see any plants or animals?

Explore more about French impressionism here

A man wearing a full suit of armor rides a horse on a narrow path alongside a ghoulish, skeletal creature wrapped in snakes and a goat-headed, horned creature, all set again sheer, rocky outcroppings that nearly fill this vertical engraving. The scene is created with fine, black lines built up in hatching and crosshatching to make deep shadows, and is printed on cream-white paper. The armored man rides toward our left in profile with a long lance resting on his right shoulder, farther from us, and the other hand holding the muscular horse’s reins. The lance extends off both sides of the paper and is wrapped with a fox’s tail near the top. The man’s face is wrinkled with deep-set eyes staring straight ahead. He has a prominent, bumped nose and wide mouth closed in a line, with the corner we can see pulled slightly up. The visor of his helmet is pushed up but his eyes are shielded from the creatures beyond the horse by the flaring sides of his helmet. Armor covers every inch of his body, including his hands and feet, and a long sword hangs at his left hip, closer to us. Spanning the width of the composition, his muscular horse walks with one front and one back leg raised and its chin pulled back, also looking straight ahead. A long-haired dog runs in the same direction between the horse’s feet over a lizard scrambling in the opposite direction. Seen between the armored man’s body and his horse’s head, the ghoulish creature at the side of the dirt path wears a spiky crown entwined with a snake and another serpent winds across his shoulders. The creature looks toward the armored man with round, piercing eyes, a hole where the nose should be, and a nearly toothless, gaping maw. He has a long, lanky beard and hair, and he holds up an hourglass topped with a clock-like dial. This creature also rides a horse, whose head hangs close to the ground. To our right, the goat-headed creature looks toward the armored rider with round eyes and its long snout slightly open to show fangs and teeth. Horns curl down to its shoulders and one long, sharp horn, dotted with spikes at the base, curves up and back over the creature’s face. It holds a double-pronged, spear-like halberd like a walking stick. Immediately beyond the group, rocky outcroppings push into the sky. The branches of barren trees and bushes are outlined against the blank, white sky and their craggy roots poke out of the rock. High on a hill in the deep distance is a castle complex or town. A plaque near a human skull resting on a tree stump in the lower left corner has the date of the print and the artist's monogram.

Albrecht Dürer, Knight, Death and Devil, 1513, engraving on laid paper, Gift of W.G. Russell Allen, 1941.1.20

Find these details in this painting:

Hourglass (a symbol of time and mortality)
Foxtail speared on knight’s lance (stands for lies)
Dog (a symbol of truth and loyalty)
Scurrying lizard (a hint of coming danger)
Skull (symbol of death)
Death (with a crown of snakes)
Devil (with the face of a goat)
Knight’s shining armor (symbol of faith)

What does courage mean to you? Discuss with your family the different ways in which people can demonstrate courage.

Explore more about this artwork here

Made with mostly square or rectangular pieces of patterned paper in shades of asparagus and moss green, sky blue, tan, and ash brown, a man with brown skin sits in the center of this horizontal composition with a second person over his shoulder, in the upper left corner of this collage. The man’s facial features are a composite of cut-outs, mostly in shades of brown and gray, as if from black-and white photographs, and he smokes a cigarette. He sits with his body angled slightly to our right and he looks off in that direction, elbows resting on thighs and wrists crossed. His button-down shirt and pants, similarly collaged, are mottled with sky blue and white. One foot, on our right, is created with a cartoonish, shoe-shaped, black silhouette. The paper used for the other foot seems to have been scraped and scratched, creating the impression that that foot is bare. A tub, made of the same blue and white paper of the man’s suit, sits on the ground to our left, in the lower corner. The man sits in front of an expanse made up of green and brown pieces of paper patterned with wood grain, which could be a cabin. In a window in the upper left, a woman’s face, her features similarly collaged, looks out at us. One dark hand, large in relation to the people, rests on the sill with the fingers extended down the side of the house. The right third of the composition is filled collaged scraps of paper patterned to resemble leafy trees. Closer inspection reveals the form of a woman, smaller in scale than the other two, standing in that zone, facing our left in profile near a gray picket fence. She has a brown face, her hair wrapped in a patterned covering, and she holds a watermelon-sized, yellow fruit with brown stripes. Several blue birds and a red-winged blackbird fly and stand nearby. Above the woman and near the top of the composition, a train puffs along the top of what we read as the tops of trees. The artist signed the work in black letters in the upper right corner: “romare bearden.”

Romare Bearden, Tomorrow I May Be Far Away, 1967, collage of various papers with charcoal, graphite and paint on paper mounted to canvas, Paul Mellon Fund, 2001.72.1

What is the first thing you see when you look at this work of art? Why do you think it caught your attention?

How many people can you count in this picture? Describe what they are doing.

What colors do you see? Where else does that color appear? Find other colors and patterns that repeat throughout the picture.

Explore more about this artwork in a resource for pre-K kids here

This nearly square, abstract painting is filled with circles within circles, like nested rings, each of a single bright color against the ivory white of the canvas. Each ring is made up of a series of short, rectangular dashes, and some bands are narrower while others are a bit wider. The majority of the rings are crimson and brick red, and they are interspersed with bands of lapis blue, army green, and pale pink. One of two pumpkin-orange bands is the smallest, innermost ring at the center. There is one aqua-blue colored ring just inside a pale, shell-white ring, which is the first to get cropped by the edges of the canvas. A few red, green, and blue rings beyond the white band are only seen at the corners of the canvas.

Alma Thomas, Pansies in Washington, 1969, acrylic on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of Vincent Melzac), 2015.19.144

Alma Thomas drew inspiration for her paintings from the colorful garden views from her window. What do you see in the painting that reminds you of flowers?

While she was painting, Thomas would envision herself in an airplane. What could these dabs of color represent as seen from above? What is in the center?

Explore more about this artwork here

 

We hover over the bottle-green surface of a river as it rushes toward a horseshoe-shaped waterfall that curves away from us in this horizontal landscape painting. The water is white and frothy right in front of us, where the shelf of the riverbed changes levels near the edge of the falls. Across from us, the water is also white where it falls over the edge. A thin, broken rainbow glints in the mist near the upper left corner of the painting and continues its arc farther down, between the falls. The horizon line is just over halfway up the composition. Plum-purple clouds sweep into the composition at the upper corners against a lavender-colored sky. Tiny trees and a few buildings line the shoreline to the left and right in the deep distance.

Frederic Edwin Church, Niagara, 1857, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.79.10

Imagine you are painting this picture. Where are you standing? What do you see? What do you hear? Don’t miss the rainbow!

Make a six-word story about how you feel when you look at this view. Work together or write your own.

Explore more about this artwork here

A white man in military uniform rides a horse in front of a regiment of five rows of Black troops in this sculpture, which is painted entirely in gold. The artist created a shallow, stage-like space with an arched top so the men are sculpted in three dimensions, though they become more compressed as they move back in space. The men and horse face our right in profile in this view. The man on the horse has a pointed, straight nose and a goatee. He wears a cap with a flat top and narrow brim, a knee-length coat, gloves, and knee-high boots with spurs. He holds a thin sword down by the side of the horse with his right hand and holds the reins of the horse with his left. The horse’s head is pulled upward by the short reins, and its mouth is open around the bit. About twenty soldiers are lined up in rows beyond the horse, and they march in unison. They carry blankets rolled atop knapsacks, canteens, and rifles resting on their right shoulders. However, the details of how their uniforms bunch up around their equipment and the way their caps have been molded and fit is unique to each person. Their ages also vary from young and cleanshaven to bearded, older men. Two men carry furled flags near the back, to our left, and a drummer boy plays at the head of the regiment, to our right. All the men look straight ahead, their lips closed. A woman in a billowing robe floats above them under the arched top of the sculpture with her eyes closed. Her left arm is outstretched, and she holds a laurel branch and poppies close to her body with her right arm. An inscription in the upper right corner is created with raised capital letters: “OMNIA RELINQVIT SERVARE REMPVBLICAM.” A longer inscription is carved into the base along the bottom edge of the memorial, also in all caps: “ROBERT GOVLD SHAW KILLED WHILE LEADING THE ASSVLT ON FORT WAGNER JVLY TWENTY THIRD EIGHTEEN HVNDRED AND SIXTY THREE.” The artist’s signature is inscribed In the lower right corner, in smaller letters: “AVGVTVS SAINT GAVDEN M-D-C-C-C-L X X X X V I I I.”

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, 1900, patinated plaster, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire, X.15233

Do you see a drummer boy? A soldier carrying a flag? Canteens? Bedrolls? What else?

Imagine you are a figure in the scene. How are you unique or similar compared to others? What might you be thinking or feeling?

Explore more about this artwork here
 

Five monkeys rest and play amid a lush jungle landscape in this horizontal landscape painting. Painted with areas of flat color, thick vegetation fills most of the scene, with giant leaves overlapping in shades of green. At the bottom center, a large brown monkey sits upright on a rock, looking directly at us. To our left, two gray and black monkeys climb in trees, and also face us. To our right, two rust-orange monkeys swing in trees. The orange of their fur is echoed in spiky, pumpkin-orange flowers to the right. Dark red leafy plants with spiky white flowers fill the lower left corner of the painting. A cloudless, pale blue sky stretches across the top of the composition. The artist signed and dated the painting with white letters in the lower right: “Henri Rousseau 1910.”

Henri Rousseau, Tropical Forest with Monkeys, 1910, oil on canvas, John Hay Whitney Collection, 1982.76.7

How many animals can you find in this painting? What other creatures might be hiding here?

Do you think this is a real place or an imaginary place? Why?

Imagine you are traveling to this jungle. What would you need to wear? What would you plan to do? What would it be like there?

Explore more about this artwork in a resource for pre-K kids here

Two men, a woman, and three children, all with brown skin, gather around a table in a house in this horizontal painting. A bespectacled, white-haired man sits to our left, wearing a black coat and suit. He looks up and to our right, his chin slightly lifted. A black top hat and a book sit near his feet, and a gray umbrella leans against the back of his worn wooden chair. Opposite him, to our right, a younger man has short black hair and a trimmed beard. He props one elbow on a cigar box on the table and rests his chin in that hand. With his other hand, he grasps the lapel of his slate-blue jacket, which is worn over a cream-white shirt. There is a patch in one elbow of the jacket and on one of the knees in his tan-colored pants. Two small children gather around him. The smallest child turns away from us as they rest their folded arms and head on one of the man's knees. That child wears a knee-length, dress-like garment striped with parchment brown and beige. Behind the man, to our right, a slightly older boy kneels on a bench on the far side of the table and rests his elbows on the white tablecloth. That boy wears an aquamarine-blue shirt and dove-gray pants. Both children are barefoot. On the far side of the table, near the older man, a woman stands and leans forward to spoon food into the white dish he holds. She wears a red kerchief tied around her head and a fog-blue apron over a white shirt patterned with a muted indigo-blue grid. A young girl, the oldest child, stands on the far side of the table between the younger man and woman. Seen from the chest up, the girl's face and body are angled to our right, toward her father, but she looks to our left from the corners of her eyes. She wears a coral-red, high-collared garment with white polka dots. On the table is a serving bowl, cup, and a kettle. Behind the woman, one door of a tall brick-red cupboard is ajar. Plates and vessels line the shelves within. A fireplace to the right has an opening as tall as the stooping woman. The mantle is lined with a manual coffee grinder, a white jar painted with a blue design, and clothes irons. A circus poster hangs behind the open door of the cupboard. A string of dried red chilis hangs next to a window between the poster and fireplace mantle. A banjo rests on a stool in front of the table, and a white cat licks a pie plate near the father's feet. The aritst signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner,

Richard Norris Brooke, A Pastoral Visit, 1881, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.119

Focus on one person depicted in this painting. How would you describe that person? What is he or she doing, feeling, thinking?

Explore more about this artwork in a resource for English language learners here

Densely spaced lines and splatters in black, white, pale salmon pink, teal, and steel gray crisscross a rectangular cream-colored canvas in this abstract horizontal painting. The lines move in every direction. Most are straight but some curve slightly. The density eases a bit near the edges. Two sets of ghostly white handprints are visible at the upper corners. The artist signed and dated the painting in black paint in the lower left corner: “Jackson Pollock ’50.”

Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950, oil, enamel, and aluminum on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1976.37.1

Look closely at the painting. What colors do you see? What lines and shapes can you find? Step back and look again. What do you notice now?

Imagine you are artist Jackson Pollock, who invented a style of painting where he poured, flung, and dripped paint onto canvases spread on the floor. To make this painting, where did you start? What color did you use first? How did you decide when to stop?

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