In a review of Waiting for a Want, Bud Scoppa said "The Art Teacher" and "This Love Affair" were more engaging than the EP's two other tracks ("Gay Messiah" and "Waiting for a Dream"). Robert Christgau said the song "is worth saving" in his review of Want Two, in which he gave the album a "B−" rating. In Danny Eccleston's review of Live from the Artists Den, he describes "The Art Teacher" as "a great, great song" and one of Wainwright's "best-loved numbers and for good reason". He writes, "It's transformational ... the tragedy of her unspoken love seems to resonate endlessly, as if bouncing mercilessly around in your chest." Sarah Metz, a media arts specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts and a contributor to its "Art Works Blog", related "The Art Teacher" to one of her own experiences in her 2015 article, "My Artist Crush: Rufus Wainwright": "I had developed a huge crush on one of my English teachers in high school, and was in awe of how he perfectly captured those feelings in a four-minute song." In The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter (2016), Katherine Williams said the pronoun shifts within the song's lyrics allow Wainwright "play between genders", and noted that the singer usually sings in the first person. In 2008, Brandon Summers of The Helio Sequence said the song introduced him to Wainwright's music, and that he now considers the singer-songwriter an artist he most admires. "The Art Teacher" appears on the soundtrack to Peter Hinton's 2013 stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1892). Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Want Two. Rufus Wainwright – voice, piano Guillaume Bengle – engineering Marius de Vries – producer Isobel Griffiths – contracting (horns) Rod Shearer – engineering References 2000s ballads 2004 songs LGBT-related songs Rufus Wainwright songs Song recordings produced by Marius de Vries Songs about educators Songs written by Rufus Wainwright