You are here
Docent-Led Tours
Please consult the list of tours by using the tabs below to select the docent-led tour that is appropriate for your students' grade level and your area of interest. Docent-led tours are aligned to national and state learning goals and standards.
Tour Lengths
Most docent-led tours are one hour in length. Exceptions are tours for younger children such as the ABCs of Art for Pre-K–2nd grade and Museum Introduction tours for grades 1–2, which are both 45 minutes in length. Tours for older students such as European Art, Art of France, Art of Spain, Art Traditions of the United States, Modern Art and Contemporary Art and Design tours are 90 minutes for students in grades 9–12. Creative Writing and Seeing through Drawing tours also are 90 minutes in length. Tours combined with subsequent studio sessions are two hours total.
Tour Dates and Times
Docent-led tours are offered October 1, 2012– May 31, 2013. Tour times each weekday morning are 10:00, 10:30, 11:30, and 12:00 unless otherwise indicated. Please note that not all tours are available at all times.
Museum Introduction Tours
Museum Introduction tours have four thematic threads; each provides imaginative ideas through which to begin to explore the extensive and diverse nature of the museum’s collections.
Art from Many Places
An encyclopedic museum encompasses art from many geographic locations, historical eras, and varied cultures. Students will develop looking and critical thinking skills as they explore the differences and similarities among works of art throughout the museum.
Limit: 90 Students
Clues from the Past
Students will hone their investigational skills as they uncover the “clues” works of art may tell us about the interests, world views, and beliefs of peoples from former times.
Limit: 90 Students
Self, Family, and Community
Students will explore the ways artists depict individuals and their relationships with their families and the ways in which these groups form and interact with larger communities.
Limit: 90 Students
Stories in Art
Every picture tells a story! Some works of art might tell the whole story, others might just tell a part. Students will discover the ways artists tell stories visually and will discuss elements of storytelling including characters, setting, action, sequence, and narration.
Limit: 90 Students
All Museum Introduction tours are:
45 minutes for Grades 1–2
60 minutes for Grades 3–5
Specialized Tours (Grades 4–5 only)
Introduction to Impressionism
Students will investigate the subject matter, styles, and techniques of Impressionism and will compare and contrast these artists’ works with both earlier and later works of art.
American Art: Themes and Ideas
This tour incorporates late 19th- and 20th-century American art and 18th- and 19th-century folk art. The galleries that contain American art from the 17th through early 19th century will be closed January 2 through April 12, 2013. The tours Learning About America through Art (grades 4-5) and Art of the United States”(grades 6–12) tours will resume April 15.
Limit: 80 students
60 minutes for grades 4-5
Museum Introduction Tours
Art from Many Places
An encyclopedic museum encompasses art from many geographic locations, historical eras, and varied cultures. Students will develop looking and critical thinking skills as they explore the differences and similarities among works of art throughout the museum.
Limit: 90 Students
60 minutes for grades 6–12
Specialized Tours
American Art: Themes and Ideas
This tour incorporates late 19th- and 20th-century American art and 18th- and 19th-century folk art. The galleries that contain American art from the 17th through early 19th century will be closed January 2 through April 12, 2013. The tours Learning About America through Art (grades 4-5) and Art of the United States”(grades 6–12) tours will resume April 15.
Art of Ancient Greece, Etruria, Rome, and the Byzantine Empire
Students explore the art and informing ideas of the ancient cultures of Greece, Etruria, Rome, and the early Byzantine Empire.
Limit 60 students
60 minutes for grades 6–12
Classical Mythology in Art
On this tour, students explore the mythology of the ancient Mediterranean world and trace its influence in later European and American art.
Limit 60 students
60 minutes for grades 6-12
Art and Garden
Offered in partnership with the Lurie Garden at Millennium Park across the street from the museum’s Ryan Education Center, this tour enables students to investigate ways in which artists depict the natural world in works of art. They then cross into the Lurie Garden over the Nichols Bridgeway, discovering similarities and differences in landscape design with Lurie Garden docents. Students will investigate the ways in which both artists and landscape designers use color, line, and shape as compositional elements in their work and will discuss design elements in both locations.
Limit: 40 Students
60-minute museum tour followed by a 45-minute garden tour for grades 6–12
Thursdays in April and May, 10:30–12:30
Arts of Africa
The diverse cultural traditions and worldviews that objects from Africa embody are the focus of this tour. Students will explore a variety of objects in order to compare and contrast the ways in which they functioned originally and to consider how aesthetic properties communicate cultural values.
Limit 60 Students
60 minutes for grades 6–12
Asian Art
On this survey tour students will explore the aesthetics, related spiritual beliefs, and philosophical ideas of eastern and south Asian cultures through engagement with works of art from China, Japan, India, and Korea, and other Asian cultures. A variety of objects will be discussed including ceramics, cast metals, works on silk or paper, and textiles.
Limit: 60 Students
60 minutes for grades 6–12
European Art
Art of France
Through intensive investigation of subject matter, artistic styles, and techniques, students will discuss historical and cultural changes in France as exemplified by
French art.
Limit: 90 Students
90 minutes for grades 9-12
Art of Spain
Through intensive investigation of subject matter, artistic styles, and techniques, students will discuss historical and cultural changes in Spain as exemplified by
Spanish art.
Limit: 90 Students
90 minutes for grades 9-12
European Art (1300–1800)
This survey tour provides an overview of cultural changes in Europe from medieval times through the dawn of the 19th century. Students will discover the changing nature of European cultures and some of the overarching ideas of the times through their examination of subject matter and artistic, technical, and aesthetic perspectives in painting, sculpture and decorative arts.
Limit: 90 Students
60 minutes grades 6–8
90 minutes grades 9–12 (10:00 and 10:30 only)
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Students will discover how Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works of art reflected new attitudes toward nature and 19th century life. They will examine the artists’ stylistic innovations and note how their outlooks represented a radical change from the past as well as critical portents for the future.
Limit: 80 Students
60 minutes for grades 6–12
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contemporary Art and Design
This tour explores work produced from 1950 to the present, including painting, sculpture, installation art, new-media work, design, and architecture.
Limit: 90 Students
60 minutes for grades 6-8
90 minutes for grades 9-12
Modern Art
What does it mean to be “modern”? Students will explore the great variety of styles and “isms” that comprise 20th-century modern art and connect these works to subsequent artistic styles.
Limit: 90 Students
60 minutes for grades 6–8
90 minutes for grades 9–12
Writing and Drawing Tours
Art and Creative Writing
Students will enhance their visual perception skills by engaging with works of art through writing short pieces including narratives and poetry. All materials are supplied.
Limit: 30 Students
90 minutes for grades 6-12
Seeing through Drawing
Students will hone their looking skills by exploring the composition and style of works of art through drawing. Visceral understanding is stressed rather than drawing expertise, so no experience is required! All materials are provided.
Limit: 30 Students
90 minutes for grades 6–12
All tours meet Illinois Learning Standards in Language Arts, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts. See below for details.
Language Arts
Goal 1 Reading: All tours
Goal 2 Literature: All tours
Goal 3 Writing: Art and Creative Writing
Goal 4 Listening and Speaking: All tours
Social Sciences
Goal 16 History: All tours
Goal 18 Social Systems: All tours
Fine Arts
Goal 25 Language of the Arts: All tours
Goal 26 Creating and Performing: Seeing through Drawing; Really Big and Really Small; Me and My World; and Lines, Shapes, Colors
Goal 27 Arts and Civilization: All tours
Foreign Languages
Goal 29 Culture and Geography: Arts of France, Arts of Spain, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Introduction to Impressionism
Questions? Please e-mail the Student Tours office at studenttours@artic.edu.
ARTicle, our blog
YouTube
- LaunchPad: Ancient Glassmaking—The Roman Mold-Blown Technique
- LaunchPad: Conserving Ancient and Byzantine Art at the Art Institute of Chicago
- LaunchPad: Ancient Greek Vase Production and the Black-Figure Technique
- LaunchPad: Ancient Glassmaking—The Roman Mold-Blown Technique
- LaunchPad: Ancient Glassmaking—The Free-Blown Technique