The master's thesis deals with the ways modern works of art can stimulate the development of empathy among pupils. The survey presented in the theoretical part is accompanied by the explanation of the term empathy and the ways people can emphatically react to understanding and accepting emotions coming from the works of art. Following is the presentation of how art lessons and reactions to works of art can encourage pupils to think about values and standpoints, in order to sharpen their sensitivity to emotions and therefore increase their empathy. Next is a detailed explanation of ways in which visiting art galleries and developing competence help pupils to interpret works of art. A few examples of good practice of analysing and evaluating works of art in numerous art galleries and museums are presented. Additionally, the appreciation and understanding of works of art as a way of guided interpretation, developed by the Getty museum in Los Angeles, is researched. Moreover, the teaching methods of the founder of museum pedagogics in Slovenia, which are applicable to educational work in museums and galleries, are dealt with. The Tate Modern approach Ways In is discussed in more detail. In order to develop empathy in pupils through works of art, several examples of cross-curriculum teaching are provided. A selection of Slovene contemporary works of art that help develop empathy is included in the next section. Selected are the examples with appropriate content and communicativeness that may be used in cross-curricular teaching, in order to help increase empathy among pupils. Analyses of works of art by Vladimir Leben, Vesna Bukovec and Uroš Weinberger are presented. The methods used in analysing the works of art are the following: formal analysis (focused on visual and physical aspects of artwork), iconographic-iconological method (focused on artwork content and meaning) and contextual analysis (focused on the contextual interpretation of artwork). Curriculum goals are taken into consideration in order to provide a thorough experience of works of art. According to curriculum guidelines, several sets of questions for individual works of art, encouraging pupils to increase empathy, have been put together.
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