Egyptian Art

Rahotep and Nefret

Most of what we know about Egyptian art comes from the paintings the Egyptians created in the tombs of rich people when they died. These pictures were supposed to help the dead person out when he or she reached the next world, where the Egyptians thought you lived after you died in this world. So the paintings showed all sorts of things that people did in their regular lives.

A lot of people think that the Egyptians always painted in the same style, but actually there are important changes in style over the two thousand years that these tomb paintings were being painted.
In the Old Kingdom, the carvers took great pains with the pictures, but in the Middle Kingdom, the carvers took a lot of shortcuts and did sloppier work, for instance. In the Old Kingdom, the pictures are almost always about daily life, but by the New Kingdom there are more temples being built, and on temples there are pictures about events that happened, reminding people about a big battle, for instance. Also in the New Kingdom, the Amarna period is one of great experimentation in Egyptian art as well as in religion and government.

Once the Persians conquered Egypt, Egyptian art became a fascinating mixture of different cultures: Egyptian-Persian art, then Egyptian-Greek art, then Egyptian-Roman art, and Coptic and finally Islamic art. Each of these cultures mixed with Egyptian culture in a different way.

To find out more about Egyptian art, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Eyewitness: Ancient Egypt, by George Hart. For kids.

Ancient Egyptian Art, by Susie Hodge (1998). Shows kids how Egyptian art relates to Egyptian religion and culture.

Hands-On Ancient People, Volume 1: Art Activities about Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Islam, by Yvonne Merrill and Mary Simpson. Art projects for kids, though the directions are really aimed at teachers or parents.

The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (Yale University Press Pelican History of Art), by William Stevenson Smith and William Kelly Simpson (revised edition 1999). The standard for college courses.

Egyptian Art, by Cyril Aldred (1985). Another standard.

More books and toys related to Egyptian Art

Old Kingdom Egyptian Art
Middle Kingdom Egyptian Art
New Kingdom Egyptian Art
Main Egyptian page
Main art page