Famous Hispanic Artists

 Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with These Inspiring Artists and Lessons!

Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15) is the perfect time to spotlight some of the incredible Hispanic and Latin American artists who have shaped the art world. These artists bring diverse perspectives, vibrant colors, and powerful messages into their work—and into our classrooms!

Unfortunately, Hispanic and Latin American artists are often underrepresented in art history books and museum collections. By introducing these artists to our students, we help them see that ANYONE can be an artist, and that important art comes from people of every background.

Here are 20 Hispanic artists you can introduce to your students this month—and all year long! 

  1. Amelia Peláez
  2. Beatriz González
  3. Carmen Herrera
  4. David Alfaro Siqueiros
  5. Diego Rivera
  6. Diego Velázquez
  7. Fernando Botero
  8. Francisco Goya
  9. Frida Kahlo
  10. Jean-Michel Basquiat
  11. Joan Miró
  12. Joaquín Clausell
  13. Joaquín Torres-García
  14. José Clemente Orozco
  15. Leonora Carrington
  16. María Izquierdo
  17. Marisol Escobar
  18. Pablo Picasso
  19. Remedios Varo
  20. Salvador Dalí


Check out my free Word Search with several of these artists!

Artist Slideshow Resources

I use my Artist Slideshows to teach my students about these artists in a fun, student-friendly way. Each one includes a short biography and lots of artwork examples with commentary on the artist’s style.

You can get individual presentations or save with the Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month PowerPoint Bundle in my TPT Store.

This bundle includes:

  • Diego Rivera – Known for his powerful murals and social themes

  • Frida Kahlo – Famous for her self-portraits and deeply personal symbolism

  • Jean-Michel Basquiat – A neo-expressionist artist with Puerto Rican and Haitian heritage

  • Joaquín Torres-García – A Uruguayan modernist who blended European avant-garde with Latin American identity

  • Pablo Picasso – One of the most influential artists of all time, whose work spanned multiple periods and styles

Featured Classroom Lessons

In addition to the slideshow presentations, I also love to do art projects inspired by these artists. Below are three of my favorites that bring the work of Frida Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Pablo Picasso right into the classroom.

🎨 Frida Kahlo Self-Portraits

Frida Kahlo’s art is deeply personal, filled with symbols from her life and Mexican culture. This lesson gives students the chance to create their own self-portraits inspired by Kahlo.

This resource includes:

  • A complete lesson plan with clear procedures

  • 3 student handouts (how to draw a portrait, how to draw birds and monkeys, and an overview of the steps)

  • A Frida Kahlo introduction slideshow that makes her story accessible and engaging

The best part? It requires no prep besides printing the handouts! Perfect for elementary or middle school, this project usually takes 3–4 class periods.

👉 Get the Frida Kahlo Lesson and Slideshow bundled together HERE.

🎨 Jean-Michel Basquiat Scratch Art

Basquiat’s graffiti-inspired style is bold, expressive, and packed with meaning. This project is one of my students’ favorites because it combines art and science while encouraging creativity!

Students start with a colorful base layer using crayons or oil pastels. Then they create a bold silhouette figure and fill the background with graffiti-inspired designs, words, and symbols. Using a scratch art technique, students etch skeletal and organ imagery into their figure—just like Basquiat often included anatomy in his work.

This lesson includes:

  • A Basquiat Slideshow introduction

  • Student handouts with symbols, designs, and anatomy references

  • A reflection sheet and a fun Basquiat word search for early finishers

It’s a fantastic way to explore symbolism, anatomy, and social commentary through art!

👉 Find the Basquiat Scratch Art Lesson and Slideshow bundled together for a discount HERE.

🎨 Picasso-Inspired Cubism Drawings

Picasso’s Cubism changed the way people thought about art forever! While his original Cubist techniques are challenging, this lesson helps students create simplified Cubism-inspired drawings while practicing shading techniques.

Here’s how we do it:

  1. Students draw their own subject matter (portraits, landscapes, still life).

  2. They break their drawings into sections with intersecting lines.

  3. Each section is shaded using a different technique—stippling, hatching, cross-hatching, or basic shading.

  4. Students use analogous colors to distinguish between different areas, creating that fractured Cubist look.

This project is perfect for middle school and up, and it’s such a fun way to practice shading while connecting to art history.

👉 Get the full Picasso Cubism Lesson and Slideshow bundled together for a discount HERE.

Why This Matters

When students see themselves reflected in the artists they study, they understand that art is for everyone. Celebrating Hispanic and Latin American artists not only honors their contributions to the art world, but also helps students feel empowered to tell their own stories through art.

Try introducing Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joaquín Torres-García, and Pablo Picasso in your classroom this month—you’ll be amazed at how much your students connect with their work!

👉 Explore the Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month PowerPoint Bundle and individual artist lessons in my TPT Store, All About Art.

Comments

Post a Comment

Blog Posts

Van Gogh Swirling Skies

Image
 5 th grade students love looking at Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night and creating their own personalized version. Students learn about emphasis, movement, silhouette, and warm/cool colors in this fun art project! *** This full lesson with the instructional materials is available on Teachers Pay Teachers , Classful , and Made By Teachers *** Discussing Artwork and Envisioning our own Landscapes Before the lesson begins, we use this PowerPoint to look at Vincent van Gogh’s artwork, with a special focus on The Starry Night .  I have yet to meet a student who had never seen The Starry Night before. Learning about an artwork that is already familiar to students helps them to feel more connected to the art world. We discuss what makes The Starry Night so well-loved, why it has become so famous, and which elements and principles of art van Gogh utilizes in the work (namely, emphasis and movement in the sky) After brainstorming some creative possibilities, students d...
Read more

20 Great African American Artists

Image
Black History Month is a fantastic time to spotlight some inspirational African American artists! These artists have all made important contributions to the art world. Some of these artists also use their art to express the social and political realities of the Black experience, giving viewers a deeper understanding of Black history. Black artists have historically been underrepresented in art museums and publications. It's important to recognize these artists and teach others about their art and achievements. Here is a list of 20 African American artists you could introduce during Black History Month and all throughout the rest of the year! Download the FREE Printable PDF here! I use PowerPoints to teach my students about several of these artists, including  Jean-Michel Basquiat , Horace Pippin ,  Romare Bearden , Edmonia Lewis , Alma Thomas , and Henry Ossawa Tanner .   Download the Henry Ossawa Tanner PowerPoint for FREE to check it out! The presentations include ...
Read more

Impressionist Landscapes

Image
These landscape watercolor paintings inspired by Claude Monet and the Impressionists are sure to bring calm to your classroom !   When going outdoors to paint "en plein air" is difficult or impossible, 6th graders use photos for inspiration for these landscapes.  They focus on mixing bright, vivid colors and create their paintings one brushstroke at a time! Step 1:  Introduction and Drawing Show Impressionism paintings, especially those by Claude Monet. I show my students this PowerPoint about Claude Monet's work , and if time allows, I show them artwork by a few other Impressionist artists as well.  The PowerPoints I use are all available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, All About Art . We discuss what makes Impressionism unique: characteristics like the visible brushstrokes, the exaggerated bright colors, and the calm and peaceful atmosphere.  Tell students we will be making our own Impressionist Landscape paintings! Now, the Impre...
Read more

Kehinde Wiley Self Portraits

Image
Students are amazed by African American artist Kehinde Wiley's incredible talent, and they are drawn to his contemporary style.   Inspired by his work, 7th graders created these realistic self-portraits overlapped by patterned backgrounds. They were so proud of the results! *** This full lesson with all the handouts is available on Teachers Pay Teachers , Classful , and Made By Teachers *** Step 1: Introduction to Kehinde Wiley, and Drawing our Portraits I begin this lesson by showing my students a 36-slide PowerPoint about contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley and his realistic portraits. Sign up to the All About Art newsletter below if you would like me to send you the PowerPoint! First Name  Email  Get the PowerPoint Built with ConvertKit After looking at and discussing Kehinde Wiley's work, we begin drawing our own realistic and proportional self-portraits. We use a "Drawing a Portrait" handout to help guide us.   We first d...
Read more

Artist Research Project

Image
A culmination of my middle school students’ Art History education, this is one of my school’s favorite projects.  Students learn about and take notes on a different "Artist of the Month" all year (or for several years when the student has been at my school for their whole middle school education).  In the spring of their 8th grade year, students choose one artist to write a paper on and create artwork in the style of. A crucial step before beginning an Artist Research Project is to decide how students will learn about the artists. I teach my students about a variety of artists using PowerPoints from my TpT store . If you teach a student about an artist of the month every month from grades 6-8, you could cover 30 artists by the end of 8th grade! Or you could teach one artist every week to cover even more!  My students take notes on the artists we learn about using a note-taking worksheet , which asks for just about all the information they need in order to write their pap...
Read more