This research intended to discuss the art installation as a methodological possibility for the teaching of art in basic education. Here we privileged Lucia Santaella's Applied Semiotics to discuss the art installation as a methodological possibility for the teaching of this discipline, in basic education. A brief introduction to modern and contemporary art and the origin of artistic installations was elaborated. We also presented possibilities of theories and methodologies for the reading of artistic works, prioritizing, above all, Peircean Semiotics, because we understand that the triad firstness, secondness and thirdness is appropriate to this proposal, by their qualities of sign of feeling, sensation and thought, which can provide an effective reading that covers from subtle perceptions to the most complex. The artistic installation is a sign, a construction that provides rereading, and is able to produce interpretative effects on the student.