Critical thinking plays an essential role in contemporary art education. It is the key element in the critical inquiry pedagogy in the context of teaching visual culture in art education. Since 2000, critical thinking has emerged as goal statements and main content of the art curriculum guides or curriculum frameworks for the senior high schools many Eastern and Western countries and regions. In Hong Kong, critical thinking is not only one of key generic skills that the Education Bureau officially suggests and promoted in the visual arts curricula of senior high school. It is also one of the assessment criteria suggested by the Hong Kong Assessment and Examinations Authority for the arts public examination of the senior high. The Visual Arts Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4-6) also suggests that teachers encourage students to engage in critical thinking when analyzing and interpreting art and culture. However, although the Guide highlights the importance of critical thinking in the art curriculum, it does not suggest a framework for teachers’ reference. In light of the beliefs of many contemporary art educators regarding visual culture in art education that art teachers should include, emphasize and promote critical thinking in the art curriculum of the senior high class in order to respond to the rapidly changing society and the needs of the contemporary world, the aim of this paper was to propose a conceptual framework of critical thinking based on critical social theory for teaching visual culture to senior high students. The proposed framework included three core domains, namely (1) Education as a Social Practice, (2) Educational Discourse and (3) Criticism in the Comprehensive Learning Environment. The paper argued that the critical social framework would not only facilitate students’ critical thinking, but also develop their socio-cultural response skills. visual Arts teachers at the senior-high class may also benefit from the proposed framework since they could use it to guide them in designing, implementing and evaluating both their teaching and their students’ learning of visual culture in their classrooms.