Many of the world’s leading museums offer free art education online, so learning can be done from the comfort of home. Virtual museum visits can offer high-quality digital content, including zoomable images, family-friendly art activities, audio guides, exhibition catalogs, video lectures, interactive projects and more. From curatorial work to art conservation efforts, museums are inviting the public behind-the-scenes with staff-generated articles, footage and tutorials. Digital content also includes artist interviews featuring rare insights into the creative process. Many fine art institutions even offer free online art classes and workshops for children and adults. With all this content available online, free art education has never been more accessible. Check out the top 5 museums offering free online art education in the United States.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
www.metmuseum.org
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), located in New York City, offers an extensive collection of free online resources. Start your virtual visit with the Artist Project, a video series featuring 120 artists as they share what they see when they look at the Met. Then, explore the Museum’s online collection featuring more than 5,000 years of art history, including the Met 360 Degrees Project, a look at the Museum’s most iconic spaces in an immersive video, and the Timeline of Art History, a gathering of hundreds of artist essays from the last 20 years.
Online content also includes artist talks and performances, museum blog, audio guides and digital exhibition publications. Each week, online visitors can check out a new film from the Met’s archives. Families should visit #MetKids, which features art activities and creative projects using videos and a virtual time machine.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
www.sfmoma.org
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) offers an interesting mix of online learning materials, including images, videos, recordings, screenings and articles. SFOMA’s online content changes weekly and features new information, such as artist and staff profiles, as well as recently uncovered artworks from the museum’s archives. Take a deeper dive into the permanent collection with interviews from artists, such as Judy Chicago, Dawoud Bey and Ansel Adams, as they work through contemporary art issues. Online visitors can also listen to SFMOMA’s arts and culture podcast, Raw Material. Programs are created by podcasters who explore modern art and its continuous evolution.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
www.youtube.com/lacmavideo
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) offers plenty of free art education tools and resources through its website. Virtual visitors can browse images of the collection, watch short films, explore special exhibitions and screen rare documentaries. Online courses, lectures and teaching resources are available for those who’d like to give their learning experience more structure. LACMA’s website also features interactive content from museum educators, curators and other staff as they act as a personal guides. Get the inside scoop with audio soundtracks, live recordings, exclusive artist interviews and exhibition catalogues.
Tune in weekly for free online art classes through the museum’s Make Art at Home program with LACMA’s Teaching Artists. From painting to collage, projects include hands-on activities for people of all ages and skill levels. Check out how to build a three dimensional paper city, a project inspired by Chris Burden’s representation of a busy and bustling city in his installation Metropolis II (2011).
www.moma.org
The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), located in New York City, offers virtual visitors access to free art education through images of temporary exhibitions, digital art publications and art-making ideas. Many resources are available in English and Spanish. MOMA’s website also offers online courses that cover a wide range of topics, including Fashion as Design, Postwar Abstract Painting, Contemporary Art, Art & Ideas, Museum Teaching Strategies for Your Classroom, Seeing Through Photographs, Interactive Strategies for Engaging with Art and Modern Art & Ideas. Once enrolled, participants gain access to videos, quizzes and programming assignments (if applicable). If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit many of the courses for free. Click here to access instructor details, syllabuses, reviews and enrollment options.
www.artic.edu
Online visitors can easily explore many works from the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection. In addition to searching the image library by artist name, it can also be browsed by theme, style, medium and color. In addition to viewing the artwork, caption information offers critical context for understanding the piece’s origin, inspiration, creation and acquisition. Get a glimpse at rotating special exhibitions, like El Greco: Ambition and Defiance with videos, audio tours, interactive features, blog posts and more. Digital publications, zoomable images and scholarly research is all just a click away.
The Art Institute’s YouTube Channel offers an extensive array of artist videos, recorded art history lectures and behind-the-scenes footage of museum operations. Free art education also includes audio guides that can be downloaded using the Museum’s mobile app. And, family art-making projects and creative writing activities are available on the Art Institute’s website. The Museum’s online JourneyMaker program encourages young people to build a custom art adventure at home.
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