Classroom Lessons: Past Exhibitions
Looking closely, listening openly, sharing observations—a pre-K–12 lesson with the Barnes Foundation encourages students to have a curious, creative voice.
Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations
(March 9–May 25, 2025)
The exhibition surveys the pioneering career of the London-born, New York–based artist Cecily Brown (b. 1969), one of the most celebrated artists working in painting today. Presented in the Roberts Gallery, the exhibition features more than 30 paintings and related drawings that showcase Brown’s bold brushwork, vibrant colors, and reimagining of gender stereotypes.
Cecily Brown Slideshow with Images and Discussion Questions
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
(October 20, 2024–January 12, 2025)
The Barnes presentation of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love showcases a selection of vivid and multifaceted artworks—paintings, collage, photography, video, and installation—that celebrates Mickalene Thomas’s distinctive artistic practice from the late 2000s to the present day. Her intricate multimedia art is characterized by spectacularly staged rhinestone compositions, decisively foregrounding Black femininity in abundant realms of visual pleasure, agency, and kinship.
Teacher Background and Information
Alexey Brodovitch: Astonish Me
(March 3–May 19, 2024)
The Russian-born designer, photographer, and instructor Alexey Brodovitch (1898–1971) is best known as the art director of the US fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar between 1934 and 1958. He infused the publication with a new modern aesthetic and made photography the cornerstone of its visual identity. Brodovitch is also known for his mentorship of celebrated documentary and fashion photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Eve Arnold, and Lillian Bassman, and his work with luminaries such as Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, and Martin Munkácsi.
Teacher Background and Information
Marie Laurencin: Sapphic Paris
(October 22, 2023–January 21, 2024)
In the early 20th century, French artist Marie Laurencin (1883–1956) created a unique pictorial world that placed women at the center of modern art. With a highly original painting style that defied categorization, she moved seamlessly between the male-dominated cubist avant-garde, lesbian literary and artistic circles, and the realms of fashion, ballet, and decorative arts.
Teacher Background
ELA Lesson Plan for Grades K–5
ELA/Visual Arts Lesson Plan for Grades 6–8
Visual Arts Lesson Plan for Grades 9–12
Sue Williamson & Lebohang Kganye: Tell Me What You Remember
(March 5–May 21, 2023)
Three decades after the dismantling of apartheid began, South Africa's so-called “born free” generation has reached adulthood and its artists have used their work to navigate their difficult inheritance. At the same time, the historical distance between their experience and that of an older generation grows. Tell Me What You Remember reflects on this moment by bringing together two of South Africa’s most acclaimed contemporary artists.
Teacher Background
Social Studies Lesson Plan for Grades 5–8
Art/History Lesson Plan for Grades 9–12
Artwork Images and Guided Questions