Need some book suggestions to help you explore the lives and art of the masters with your kids? You’ll want to add these awesome titles to your reading pile because they are perfect to have on hand for quick and easy artist study!
Most of these books about artists are geared toward kids, but they can be enjoyed by tweens, teens, and adults as well.
Also, most of the selections are ideal for reading together a little at a time or as needed when studying a particular artist. I’ve also included some of our favorite picture books about artists in case you’d prefer to pile up on the sofa and read through in one sitting.
Our Favorite Books for Easy Artist Study
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Before we jump into these artist study books, keep in mind that the links below all lead to Amazon, but you can also find most of these titles at Bookshop.org if you’d prefer to shop through independent booksellers.
1. The 13 Artists Series
The 13 Artists series does a wonderful job covering several important art topics, but 13 Artists Children Should Know is particularly helpful for artist study. Formatted just like others in the series, it introduces readers to 13 famous artists and highlights some of their greatest works and includes games, puzzles, and a timeline.
2. The Arts: A Visual Encyclopedia
This encyclopedia is a great artist study book to have around! It highlights artists from ancient history through modern art and gives overviews of their backgrounds, styles, and important works.
Also worth noting, it also provides overviews of specific art movements, cultural influences, and non-visual aspects under the umbrella of the arts.
3. Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired the World
Exactly what it sounds like, this lovely book features 50 bios across multiple art genres on artists like Mary Cassatt and Frida Kahlo, but also spotlights lesser-known artists.
Even better, it features artists who thrived using a variety of mediums and applications. From painting to architecture to photography and everything in between, there’s a good mix of women artists covered in Women in Art.
4. Vincent’s Starry Night
Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories is one of my favorite artist study books. It features more than 60 artists and beautifully tells the stories behind significant pieces from them.
5. Anholt’s Artists Books for Kids
Laurence Anholt’s picture books about artists are great to have on hand, especially if you’re digging into artist study with younger kids. These books all share a true story about the featured artist along with lovely illustrations and a short biography.
This isn’t a huge series of artist books, but it’s a series worth visiting if you’re covering Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Frida Kahlo, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, or Pablo Picasso.
6. The Can You Find It? Series
These Can You Find It? books are my favorite homeschool hack for making artist study happen when things get busy:
- Can You Find It?
- Can You Find It, Too?
- Can You Find It? America
- Can You Find It Outside? (This one is great for young children.)
- Can You Find it Inside? (This is also great for little ones.)
While they focus on works of art rather than individual artists, becoming familiar with notable works paves the way for becoming familiar with the artists who created them.
Each book contains 15-20 paintings and a corresponding list of details or objects to look for within each painting. (The two for younger kids contain fewer paintings than the others in the series.) It may not sound like much, but this easy observation exercise is a great way to truly study specific works of art and discover details that could go unnoticed otherwise.
7. The For Kids Books
This isn’t a series devoted to artist study specifically, but there are several fantastic artist study books that fall under the For Kids umbrella. In particular, these are great for covering biographical elements and artistic distinctions along with other factors that may have influenced the artists themselves.
Here are some of the art-related titles available through the For Kids series:
- Michelangelo for Kids
- Leonardo da Vinci for Kids
- Monet and the Impressionists for Kids
- Van Gogh and the Post Impressionists for Kids
- Salvador Dali and the Surrealists for Kids
- Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for Kids
The For Kids books also include 21 art activities in each volume. We never try to do all of them, but I appreciate having lots of hands-on options to go along with our artist studies.
8. Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artist Series
From pop artist Roy Lichtenstein to Renaissance master El Greco, there are more than 20 books in this series. The books themselves feature kid-friendly biographies along with fun illustrations and photographs of the artist’s work (and sometimes the artists themselves). Better still, there’s also a glossary to define any unfamiliar terms that come up.
Looking for more help with easy artist study? Be sure to check out the Masterpiece Makers podcast for quick, quirky, and informative episodes covering artists across the centuries.
