As part of efforts to determine the essence of elementary art education ideologically and practically in contemporary society based on visual culture, this study aimed at suggesting potential of contemporary elementary art education to develop critical thinking through education on visual culture and reestablish its essential nature based on creation of aesthetic value in living. To achieve this goal, this study reconsidered awakening from our usual concepts of educational significance of aesthetic experiences with visual culture on the basis of aesthetic theory and discussed its implications in examining the essence of elementary art education. For this purpose, general aesthetic discussions were reviewed and implications of art philosophy of Dewey who made in-depth discussion about the educational value of aesthetic experiences were considered in terms of the following questions: first, what is beauty and where does it come from?; second, what is the essence of art and what is significance of aesthetic experiences with visual culture in human experiences?; and third, what is the educational value of aesthetic experiences with visual culture and what does it imply for elementary art education?