This paper purports to explore the long-standing philosophical question on whether art can be taught. Relevant literature and research in the field reveal the complexity and elusiveness of the issue involving the systematization of artistic creation and aesthetic experience. It seems therefore that the answer to this urgent question is not a monosyllable word. When involved in a research of the history of art education, one is immediately struck by the fact that other fields of knowledge such as philosophy, history, psychology, sociology and economy have always informed the discipline. This attributes to art education its indisputable dynamic and versatility as a cognitive discipline. However this multi-dimensional theoretical background can perhaps also account for the undermining of art education in the context of conventional educational curricula. An identification of models of art education as these have appeared in the history of the Western educational system can bring to light the historical as well as philosophical origins of assumptions and values closely associated with the teaching of art. Perhaps a similar endeavor will attribute to art education the pedagogical significance it merits. Models of Art Education 1. Expressionist model: Art production is equated to self-expression encouraging personal psychological growth and development of a healthy self. Art making is a developmental activity and not a body of knowledge to be acquired. It originates in the 19th century romantic notion of the vanguard artist defying the rules of society and the philosophical tradition of German idealism of Kant and Hegel. 2. Vocational model: It also originates in the 19th century vocation oriented nature of art education accommodating for the needs of the emerging industry. It is based on the idea of art as craft and favors curricula oriented towards the training of specific craft skills. Mainly practiced in technical art schools it bears an interesting affinity with the Bauhaus school. 3. Cognitive model: Also termed "Education through Art" by its founder H. Read this model is based on the idea that involvement with the arts encourages a particular attitude to life, unique to artistic production and appreciation, such as open-ended processes and learning through discovery. It is a response to the shortcomings of WWII and it attributes a more humanizing aspect to the teaching of art. 4. Discipline-based model: Art is confronted as an organized body of knowledge with specific methods of inquiry and content informed by the disciplines of art history, aesthetics, and art criticism. It responds to the postmodernist call for an independent discipline within the school curriculum with claims to cognition. Its norms derive from the critical examination of established artistic practices cultivating critical as opposed to practical skills. 5. Social model: Art is examined as a phenomenon in the context of a culture and as dealing mainly with social issues, such as national identity, multiculturalism, sexism, pluralism, racism etc. It involves the individual directly in expressing itself about issues of his/her immediate life. It originates in the depression of the late 20s which necessitated a more socially and economically viable role of art education. 6. Visual Cultural Studies: This approach is based on the observation that the dominant role of mass media and technology attribute to contemporary Western culture a visual character. The content of art education therefore becomes wider since it incorporates not only the fine arts but also all the forms of visual communication and information technology. Pictures are examined as a social means of communication and manipulation. 7. Art as a Therapeutic Process: A teaching practice based on the understanding that the process of art making releases potent frustrations and conflicts of the individual. The end product of the artistic practice is seen as an extension of his/her self, suggesting alternative perceptions of it. Based on the Freudian thesis of the subconscious processes it is akin to the expressionistic model mentioned above.