The Modern Museum of Art in New York City is a fantastic place to bring your children to inspire creativity and teach them about modern art.  After searching through the collection currently on view, we chose 8 of the most important paintings that appeal to children and created a MoMA scavenger hunt!  Before your visit, be sure to go through the featured art and learn the name of each painting, the artist, and the extra information listed below. (More scavenger hunts: click here.)

1. The Starry Night- This painting is by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. It depicts the village Saint-Rémy in the south of France in 1889. He created it from memory during the day! The tree to the left is called a Cypress tree. (Post-Impressionist)
2. Three Musicians- Created by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso in 1921. Picasso is known for co-founding the Cubist art movement. He created 2 similar paintings under this title. One is owned by the MoMA and the other is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (Cubist)
3. The Park- Austrian painter Gustav Klimt completed this painting in 1910. Interesting fact: “I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women… There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night… Who ever wants to know something about me… ought to look carefully at my pictures.” (Art Nouveau)
4. The Blue Window- Henri Matisse painted this in 1911. Matisse was a French artist who was known for his use of color. Most of his works feature bold colors. (Fauvism)
5. Water Lillies- Water Lillies is a series of about 250 oil paintings created between the years of 1914-1926 by French painter Claude Monet. The subject of these paintings are the flower gardens at his house in Giverny, France. There are two on display at the MoMA! (Impressionism)
6. Fulang-Chang and I- Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her self-portraits. This self-portrait, painted in 1937, features one of her pet monkeys, Fulang-Chang. (Naïve Art)
7. The Sleeping Gypsy- This painting is by French artist Henri Rousseau. The depiction of a lion beside a sleeping woman was created in 1897 and is one of his most recognizable pieces. (Naïve Art)
8. The Persistence of Memory- This is one of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí’s most famous works. The 1931 painting features melting watches and swarming ants! It has been part of the MoMA collection since 1934. (Surrealism)

Here’s a printable sheet with all the above information along with self-portraits of the featured artists: