Our cross curricular resources make connections between art and other subjects, encourage new ways of thinking, and inspire art making. Send us feedback or propose a resource.
From the narratives artworks depict to the lives of artists, stories are at the heart of art. Celebrate storytelling using art from our artists and collection.
Use this resource to introduce the elements of storytelling through art. You can use this resource in class or at the RA. You can use the whole page or incorporate one or two sections into your existing teaching plans.
This resource uses art to look at how the following elements can help us tell stories:
Explore how body language helps us read a story.
Understand how storytellers use objects as clues.
Learn how storytellers create a sense of place.
Discover ancient stories from Greece and Rome.
Alongside subjects like geography, english, mathematics, and science, art and design underpins all of our resources
• Myths and legends; Fairy Tales and Playscripts; Traditional Tales; Stories from Other Cultures; Fables
• Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• Articulate and justify answers, arguments, and opinions
• Give well-structured descriptions, explanations, and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• Speak audibly and fluently
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates
• Consider and evaluate different viewpoints
• Planning writing by discussing and recording ideas
• Draft and write by composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue)
• Creating characters, settings and plot
In figurative art, we see the drama acted out with the human body, just like in the theatre or cinema. The artist has arranged their cast of actors on an imagined stage, and paused the action.
In the past, the human figure was central to European art and artists. They carefully studied the human body in different poses so they could tell their stories more effectively.
This sketch by Henry High Armstead shows a model expressing remorse, with bowed head and clasped hands.
Let’s investigate how:
• artists use the human figure to tell stories
• you can ‘read’ narrative through body language
• you can develop your visual storytelling through drama and mime
• figures ‘speak’ without words–what do we imagine them saying?
• How many figures do you see?
• What objects or props are they holding?
• Can you copy one of the poses with your own body?
In these sketches, a model holds poses in the studio and the artist draws them. The artist quickly makes a series of pencil drawings to try out different ideas and configurations. He will use these drawings to plan and sketch out his final painting, when he will bring together several figures to tell a story. What sort of story do you think it will be?
Take it in turns to pose for your class: choose a prop and see how many poses you can come up with to suggest different narratives with the same object.
• What do you think is happening between these two people?
• What emotions do you think they’re feeling?
• What might happen next?
Artist Sonia Boyce worked with two performers, the Minneapolis-based rapper Astronautalis and Elaine Mitchener, an experimental vocalist and movement artist
This is a still from a film called Exquisite Cacophony. The performance in the film is completely improvised. That means no one told them where to stand, what to say, or how to move their bodies.
Boyce worked with the pair to improvise a story. Instead of writing it down, they told the story about their emotions and anxieties using their bodies and voices in unusual ways.
• Describe what each person is doing with their hands – what does each gesture suggest to you?
• How do you think these people know each other?
• What do you imagine the person in the pink coat is giving the seated person?
In this series of paintings, the artist reimagines the lives of people from the past by bringing them into the present. The title refers to the horrific events of 1819 on a slave ship called Le Rodeur, in which 162 enslaved people went blind due to disease.
The artist chooses to paint subtle gestures that suggest personal and intimate stories between this group of people. Through her storytelling she raises questions about history, colonialism and race. She says, ‘there are always different conversations going on’–what conversations do you hear in this image?
Imagine a story in response to this painting:
• What are these people looking at?
• Would you have guessed they are a family – why?
• What do their bodies tell us about how they are looking at the painting?
• How do you think they feel about it?
• They are observing a painting, but we can only see the back of it – what do you imagine is painted on the front?
This picture shows a family of three sisters and a brother, gathered together to look at paintings on an easel. The paintings have hinged covers that have been opened like doors.
One painting is a self portrait by the woman who is sitting on the right, the artist Laura Alma-Tadema. The other is a self portrait by her husband, Lawrence, who made this family picture. We see him in the background, reflected in a mirror.
Artists, like writers, enrich their narratives by using symbolic language. A symbol in art can represent an abstract concept or idea, it can be traditional or personal, or it can be interpreted in lots of different ways.
Looking together at an artwork can be an engaging way to explore the visual language of metaphor and simile.
In this painting, John Bellany includes objects that relate to time passing and the fragility of life. There is a clock ticking against the wall. At the table, people try their luck at cards and we see an ace of hearts, suggesting love.
Piano music fills the air. Do you think it’s a sad or happy tune? Music can bring friends together, but it only lasts as long as the musician touches the piano keys. What other layers of meaning do you find in this picture?
Create an artwork or piece of writing using symbolic objects that have special meaning for you.
• This print is black and white: where are the brightest and darkest areas?
• What objects can you see on the table? how would you describe their expressions?
•What objects can you see on the table?
In this self portrait, the artist has included symbols to represent his life and what’s important to him.
The pile of books by writers he admired: Shakespeare, Swift and Milton shows his love of storytelling.
His paint palette, the tool of his trade, has a sweeping curve across it that illustrates his ideas about beautiful lines in art.
By including his personal pet, a pug dog, he makes a joke about his own stubborn character.
As a class, discuss how you would tell a personal story about the portrait sitter by incorporating particular objects.
• How has the artist made these letter shapes stand out?
• How big do you think this painting is? Is it a perfect square? (Can you measure out 182 x 170?)
• The letter ‘O’ is a circle - what other geometric shapes do you find in the alphabet?
Cubists incorporated newspapers and labels into their paintings. Concrete poets use words like other artists use paint, arranging them in a visually interesting way. While others, like Fiona Banner and Richard Long use words to tell a story.
This artist, Ed Rushca, enjoys playing with words and the way that language works. What does the word ‘oof’ mean to you? He is using a written word to suggest something, but what? What do the colours make you think of? And the style of the lettering?
• How many different shapes of petals can you see?
• What other living things are in the painting? How would the tortoise move?
• The plants are reflected in the mirror: what else do you see in the reflection?
This artist has painted pot plants and cut flowers in her home or studio. Painting flowers allows artists to experiment with colours and shapes, and they can also carry meaning. Flowers in bloom can symbolise the abundance of spring or summer.
Because their beauty doesn’t last, they are symbols of the cycle of life. Traditionally, the pansies here are symbols of remembrance and thoughtfulness, and also love and friendship. The foxgloves can mean creativity and energy.
Putting together different flowers in a painting can tell a story about people and places. The artist has included her self portrait in the mirror—perhaps the flowers tell us something about her. Which flowers do you have in your school environment and what stories could you tell with them?
Artists and writers use symbols to tell far-reaching stories. Watch this video and explore a sculpture that highlights cultural identity, colonialism and Black history.
• The figure and chair are reminiscent of classical western culture
• The Globe head and telescope suggest a wider world view
• Brightly patterned fabrics are associated with West Africa
• The sculpture combines references to colonial history and ‘discovery’
Take ten minutes to meditate as we guide you through a slow, mindful look at Yinka Shonibare RA’s sculpture.
Investigate symbols that are used to represent different places or cultures – what stories do they tell about the past and present? How are symbols borrowed or appropriated? What symbols suggest shared human experience and commonality?
The stage is set for the story to unfold. As the viewer, we are invited to enter the scene and move through it: what do we notice? What clues are there? What sort of mood does this place evoke?
A landscape setting can give us a sense of season or time of day, providing context for the story. The weather might suggest whether the story is turbulent or peaceful. Bright lights and dark shadows affect how we experience the space, and can guide our eyes as we read the narrative.
Use the artworks in this resource to discuss first impressions of a landscape or interior, and how this helps us to tell a story.
Lets explore:
• how to use scene-setting to tell stories
• familiar, realistic or imaginary settings
• build on what we’ve learned about actors and symbols
• Can you name the parts of this domestic setting–fence, tree, window, roof… What about the things you can’t see?
• What do you think the lines in the sky are?
• Who do you think lives in a house like this?
Why do you think this artist has called this painting ‘Home’ rather than ‘House’? What is the difference? We don’t know if this story setting is the artist’s own home or an image of a typical house. Some of his other paintings have titles such as ‘The House Opposite’ or ‘SE22’, his postcode in south London.
How would you paint the home that is most familiar to you? Would this home be the setting for an everyday story or something extraordinary?
• Focus on the sky—what weather effects do you see?
• Count the horses—how are they moving and reacting?
• Would you like to be in this place? How might you feel?
This artist is interested in creating dramatic tension in this wild landscape. Gilpin has contrasted light and dark and a crackling bolt of lightning.
He was interested in the awesome power of nature, and how tiny or vulnerable we can feel when we experience weather phenomena.
Images such as storms, rainbows or sunsets can be used as springboards for creative storytelling.
The artist Eugene Delacoix saw this painting and was inspired to make his own version in watercolour. In this way, stories are retold and kept alive–how would you borrow this setting idea and make it your own?
• Where do you think this staircase leads?
• In your imagination, how would you travel through this space?
• Which plants look real and which are artworks?
Look up, down and all around, the RA building provides endless possibilities for staging a story. A vibrant mix of classical columns, modern glass staircases, ornate ironwork and more… as well as different types of atmosphere and lighting.
Bring your camera and sketchbook and start your storytelling adventure. What stories would these walls tell if they could speak?
Throughout your visit, you’ll encounter potential story characters in statues, installations and ceiling paintings – as well as the living staff and visitors moving through the building.
Look at architectural photographs of the RA and imagine the statues coming to life! Plan and write a story using these images and share it with us.
Use this painting of families on a sandy beach as the setting for a story. Be guided to explore your sensory experience of the picture with this 10-minute mindful looking video.
In this sketch model, the artist Lord Leighton tests ideas for how Perseus will ride the winged horse Pegasus as he battles the sea monster.
Which myth are you investigating with your class? Search for a named mythological character—from Apollo to Zeus—with the RA collection search feature.
Every culture in the world has its own mythology. These ancient stories often explain the origins of the world, natural phenomena and the behaviour of the gods. They reflect back to us our shared human experience and feelings: passion, rivalry, love and triumph.
Many works of art are inspired by Greek and Roman mythology and this is reflected in the RA collection. These iconic stories come down to us through poetry and the oral tradition and continue to appear in popular culture today.
Let’s look at the elements of classical myths, like exciting drama, emotions, and fantastical creatures
• to recognise Classical heroes and gods in art
• myths from one place relate to myths from other parts of the world
• artists portray tales of transformation and hybrid creatures
In the next section, and if you visit the RA, you will find paintings and sculptures that feature the naked body. It’s good to giggle in a gallery, but you might want to help your students understand that nude doesn’t always mean rude!
Muscular men often feature in Greek sculptures, vases, and mosaics. The Greeks were not shy about the human body! They associated it with triumph, beauty, and strength.
In the Renaissance, artists were very interested in anatomy and often were or worked with anatomists. Anatomy is a very old science and concerns the identification and description of the body. Artists, including Michelangelo, wanted the bodies in their works of art to be as lifelike as possible so they needed a good understanding of how the body worked. It’s easier to see how a knee bends or how a torso can twist without clothes!
Painting naked bodies was a way for artists to showcase their talents, skills, and their superior knowledge of the human body. In the 18th-century, artists studying at European art academies such as the Royal Academy learnt to draw and understand the human figure by drawing from a live model, a mannequin or a sculpture. They sometimes worked from from Classical sculpture and friezes.
Artists still show naked bodies today. The naked body can be a useful way to talk about gender, disability, and race. Eileen Cooper shows naked people in her work a lot! Women in her art don’t battle mythical creatures though, they usually stretch, dance, or dream.
Ask your students to write down their funny first impressions. After explaining that rude ≠ nude, ask them to write down what they think of the artwork now that they understand more about why the body is such an important part of art. Talk about what’s changed!
• Where do you see the brightest light shining in this painting?
• Describe the creature on the ground. What real-life animals does it remind you of?
• How does the artist show the strength and determination of this person?
The demi-god Hercules fights the many-headed Hydra, a serpent-like monster. This is one of his 12 labours, or tasks. The artist creates a mood of fear and danger by painting a dark, perhaps stormy background. Painting with slippery oil paint allows him to blend colours and create a sense of movement in the body of the Hydra.
Hercules uses brute strength to conquer his enemies. As a class, discuss the qualities that make someone heroic.
• What sort of place is this?
• The woman reaches towards something in the distance – what is she looking at?
• A baby is crying – have you seen a child with wings before?
This print shows the princess Ariadne abandoned on the beach by Theseus, whom she loves. She had helped Theseus escape from the minotaur’s labyrinth, by bringing him a ball of thread to find his way back to the entrance. Ariadne wakes up to find herself stranded; her broken heart is represented by the weeping Cupid.
In classical mythology, the God of Love is usually depicted as a boy with wings. This character is different to those from other traditions, such as angels. What time of year do we often see images of Cupid (or Eros)?
• What features of a face can you find?
• How would you imagine this figure moves, or sounds?
• Look at the eye in the centre of the face – what stories could you tell about this character?
The artist has painted his own idea of what a cyclops (the cyclops was a giant with one eye) would look like. He uses his imagination and is also guided by artists and writers of the past.
Many classical myths include characters in human form but changed or exaggerated. Other characters are combinations of existing creatures, or shape-shift into different forms.
Many artists have found inspiration in these mythical gods and beasts which defy the rules of our world.
You can walk around this sculpture in our collections gallery and draw from different angles.
• Focus on the difference in size of these people – why do you think they are together in this group?
• Choose one swirling snake and try to follow the line of it across the sculpture
• How can you tell the artist understood human anatomy? Which details of the body are shown particularly convincingly?
This story comes from the ancient Greek myths of the battle of Troy. It shows the Trojan priest Laocöon with his two sons. To defeat the Trojans, the Greek army built a wooden horse and hid their soldiers inside. When this horse was left at the gates of the city, it was Laocöon who warned his fellow Trojans against taking it inside. The Greek gods Athena and Poseidon were furious with Laocöon for this, and so they sent deadly serpents to punish him.
This artwork is a plaster cast of the original marble sculpture. The cast is about 200 hundred years old. The original is around 2,000 years old and is in the Vatican museums in Rome. As soon as it was discovered in 1516 the marble sculpture was recognised as a masterpiece. It became one of the most copied artworks in European art academies such as the Royal Academy.
See this Greek hero driving his chariot to disastrous results.
• What are the clues this is a fantasy story and not real life?
• How would you describe the clothes the person is wearing?
• Focus on the horses tied to the reins—is this driver in control?
This plaster frieze is a model for a larger artwork. It shows the young Phaeton, son of the sun god Apollo. Apollo is responsible for driving the sun up into the sky each morning on his chariot.
Phaeton asks his father permission to drive the chariot himself for just one day. Calamity strikes and the inexperienced Phaeton loses control of the chariot, setting the sun loose and threatening the Earth. Zeus, the king of the gods, saves the day by removing Phaeton with a thunderbolt.
The artist has shown the figures in profile. He sculpted the scene in shallow relief against a plain background, to focus on the outline of the bodies. He looked at ancient relief sculptures and studied how to tell a story with clarity. Do the figures appear still or in movement?
When you climb the main stairs at the Royal Academy, you get a view of this enormous mythological painting by Sebastiano Ricci. Come and see it and witness the full scale of the figures tumbling towards you.
The painting is almost 5 metres wide and shows the sea nymph galatea at the centre. She drives her chariot across the ocean, drawn by horses which rear up in the waves. All around are her followers who adore her – they carry treasures from the sea and help to steady the horses.
Galatea points towards a figure in red, with whom she has fallen in love. This is Acis; Galatea transforms him into a mythical sea creature to keep him safe. Look closely and behind him you’ll see the love god Cupid with his wings and a quiver of arrows.
Abandoned and bereft in the background cave is the lonely figure of Polyphemus, the giant cyclops who had wanted Galatea for himself, but she has ridden off without him. This is why the painting is called ‘The Triumph of Galatea’.
This plaster case is on the walls of the Royal Academy. It’s a reproduction of part of an ancient Roman frieze, from the Forum of Trajan in Rome (CE 106-112).
This mythical creature is a hybrid of a lion and an eagle. Combining aspects of the king of the beasts and the king of the birds, over time the griffin became known as especially powerful and majestic. The griffin is shown from the side, between a vase and a candelabrum decorated with garlands.
This section of this Roman frieze was popular in the late 18th and 19th centuries and was widely copied. The Royal Academy collected plaster casts like this one as inspiration for its students.
Listen to Professor of Ancient Literature, Mary Beard, tell us the stories behind some of her favourite pieces inspired by classical myths – from Hercules and Venus to lesser-known gods, nymphs and cyclopes. You’ll find all these works on free display at the RA.
Collage, write, paint, tell stories, collaborate, and play the part with these cross curricular classroom activities.
Just like writers, artists use colour to bring their stories to life. But where do colours come from? How did they get their names?
In this watercolour test, J M W Turner has made a note of the colours in his travelling paint box. They include ‘Burnt Sienna’, ‘Purple Madder’, ‘Yellow Lake’, ‘Indigo’ and ‘Ivory Black’.
Colour charts or swatches | Writing equipment | Paints for colour mixing
• Choose a colour from an RA artwork, then match it to a colour chart to find an intriguing name.
• You can find artists’ colours on an art supply website, or use a household paint swatch card.
• Write the colour’s ‘life story’, to imagine how it came to be called that way.
• Explore further: for traditional colours, do some online research into their history and how they were manufactured or brought from across the world.
What if you mixed your own paint colour and gave it a story?
In picture books, we read the story through text and images, side by side – what happens when we bring these two elements together?
Get inspired by artworks such as Ed Ruscha’s ‘Oof’ and explore the use of words and lettering in a painting. This video follows artist Patrick Moses as he demonstrates his techniques for painting with words.
Traditional stories are filled with mythical beasts, dragons and fantasy creatures.
How could you combine two (or more!) animals to create your own story character?
Take a look through this resource for examples of hybrid creatures. You’ll find more mythical beasts in this collection of RA artworks
Sketchbook | drawing equipment
• Make a drawing, painting or sculpture of your creation and label its component parts
• Describe its temperament—is it peaceful, fierce, loving?
• Consider its movements—How does it travel? What does it eat?
• Explore further: investigate dragons in stories from around the world. How do they look and act? Are they feared or revered?
Explore body language through movement and drawing. Look together at an artwork in which multiple figures act out a story, and discuss what you feel their body language is expressing.
In this mythological painting, the god of wine Bacchus arrives with his wild companions and encounters the princess Ariadne, alone on the beach. Can you find gestures that might express a feeling such as surprise or happiness, or spoken words such as ‘stop’ or ‘look’?
Sketchbook | drawing equipment
• Draw a speedy stick-figure, using only simple lines to mark out their posture. In what direction are their arms pointing? Are both feet on the ground?
• You can draw freehand, or use tracing paper over a print-out of the image
• If you draw more than one body, how do they relate to each other?
• Feel it and do it: as a small group, take up poses from the artwork and use this ‘freeze-frame’ as a starting point to interpret the story in your own way
• Act out your scene to the whole group
Create a gallery in your classroom to display objects with meaning.
Invite students to contribute an object found at home or in the local natural environment which could be used as a symbol. Choose a theme word to curate your symbolic objects, for example ‘peace’, ‘friendship’, or ‘time’.
An object or selection of objects from home
• Look at examples of symbols in art – for example, in John Bellany’s painting The Pianist Entertains, he uses a clock to suggest the passage of time.
• Look at this print by Ivor Abrahams, time is measured by sand timers (but they don’t behave in the way you would expect!).
• How will you use your collection of objects in your artwork or writing?
Stories are shared between friends, generations and cultures. Many of the stories in this resource have been told multiple times in different ways.
In this activity, students work in pairs to share the story from an artwork, by speaking, listening and drawing.
Paper | Print-outs of RA artwork images | Drawing materials
• Sitting back to back, or with a barrier so they can’t see what each other are looking at.
• One child has an image of an artwork in front of them, chosen from this resource or elsewhere. They use their vocabulary to describe the artwork to their partner.
• The partner makes a drawing of what they imagine from the verbal description they are hearing.
• Can they ask questions for more detailed information? Make it a game by allowing a limited number of questions!
• At the end of the set time period, the pair reveal the artwork source and the drawing–are they very different? What’s similar or missing?
• Discuss further: encourage observations about the process–was it fun, frustrating? What more information would the drawing partner have liked to receive? Does it matter if it’s not the same?
• Swap the roles so that each partner has a chance to describe and to draw.
Argyll, Age 9, Upside-Down World, 2022.
Henry Hugh Armstead RA, Study of a draped female figure for 'Remorse', ca. 1903.
Sonia Boyce RA, 'Exquisite Cacophony' (Film still) 2015
Lubaina Himid RA, Le Rodeur: The Exchange, 2016.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema RA, A Family Group, 1896.
John Bellany RA, The Pianist Entertains, 1987.
Ed Ruscha, Oof, 1963.
Jean Cooke RA, Through the Looking Glass, 1960.
Abi, Age 17, City Life, 2022.
Sawrey Gilpin RA (1733 - 1807), Horses in a Thunderstorm, 1798.
RA Staircase
Lord Leighton PRA, Sketch model of Perseus and Pegasus for the painting 'Perseus and Andromeda', ca. 1890.
Brian Catling RA, Wilderness Cyclops, 2008.
Cast of Laocoön and his Sons (Roman version of a lost Greek original), c.100BC-50AD.
Forum of Trajan, Rome, Cast of section of frieze with vase, griffin, and candelabrum, Late 18th century/early 19th century.
Watercolour test paper taken from travelling watercolour box owned by J.M.W. Turner, R.A.
Thomas, Age 6, Tyrant Lizard King, 2022.
Produced by the Royal Academy’s Learning team in collaboration with Aliki Braine, Karly Allen, Leah Golding and Caroline Marcus Associates.