The main objective of this article is to describe and analyse the importance that elementary teachers attribute to diverse purposes of art education based on an investigation carried out during 2014, in the Los Lagos Region, 1 located in southern Chile. First, the article illustrates some considerations of the aims of art education. Then, it presents the methodology used in the investigation. Next, two tables are discussed: one on the importance that teachers assign to purposes according to the school's administrative dependence (public, subsidized and private) and the other related to the importance that teachers attribute to purposes by zone, province and type of art teacher. 2 Finally, the article concludes by identifying some findings that may be significant for teachers, school authorities and teacher education institutions.