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Timeline:
In accordance with the New York State Learning Standards, this unit
lends itself to the Language Arts and Technology disciplines as well as the
Arts. Within the time frame of one month of instruction and execution of this
unit, it has been broken down into four lesson plans with day by day objectives.
Lesson #1: The Sensory Palette: Setting the Scene for Post – Impressionism
- Day 1. Students will begin to view and discuss the video “Van Gogh’s Van Gogh.”
Before watching this film, students are asked to:
List three facts you know about the artist Vincent van Gogh.
After viewing the first part of the video, students will respond in their notebooks to the following:
1. What careers did van Gogh explore before he decided to become an artist?
2. How would you describe his early painting style?
3. How did we learn so much about van Gogh’s life?
Class discussion will follow as to the great influence his brother Theo had on his life and work. Students will get a deeper understanding of the great belief in the human spirit, which guided van Gogh in his earlier works. They will explore the laborer as a major subject of his early paintings and appreciate the value of his masterpiece “The Potato Eaters.” Students will realize how van Gogh’s color palette changed once he was persuaded to visit Paris.
- Day 2. While continuing to view “Van Gogh’s Van Gogh,” students will appreciate the flow from the Impressionist style of painting into Post-Impressionism.
Upon completion of this video students will be asked to answer the following questions:
1. Describe what you see in each of van Gogh’s new paintings once he arrived in Paris?
2. Why do you think the artist choose these new subjects to paint? Explain.
3. What is unique about van Gogh’s painting style? Describe.
4. How do we know he loved color? Explain.
5. Which of his paintings do you like best? Why?
Homework: 1. Using the Internet, explore the web site: http://vangoghgauguin.nl – a visit to Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, an exhibition coordinated by the Art Institute of Chicago and the van Gogh Museum in Holland:
Write a biographical study of the artists van Gogh and Gauguin’s life.
Reflect upon the following:
How did these artists become leaders of the Post-Impressionist movement?
Why is their relationship an important factor in our understanding the Post-Impressionist movement?
Additional Links:
www.vangoghmuseum.nl – a visit to the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
http://artic.edu - a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago.
http://globalgallery.com/bios/gauguin.html – Gauguin prints and posters, a global gallery.
- Day 3. While viewing pictures of “Van Gogh’s Chair” and “Gauguin’s Chair” displayed in the front of the room, students will respond in their notebooks to these questions and class discussion will follow:
1. Describe what you see in each painting.
2. Why do you think the artists choose this subject to paint? Explain.
3. What is unique about the painting style these artists have used? Describe.
4. How do these two chairs differ? How are they similar? What does this tell us about these two painters?
5. Which painting do you like best? Why?
By observation and discussion, students will analyze and appreciate the unique painting style of each of these artists. Students will become aware of these paintings as “portraits” of these artists, describing how van Gogh saw himself and his friend.
Teacher Notes: Vincent thought Paul was a painter with very special ideas and feelings. That is why he chose a very elegant chair for Paul. He painted it in the mysterious light of evening. On the chair is a lighted candle next to two books. Van Gogh thought of Gauguin as a learned, well-read man and wanted to show this in the picture. Gauguin’s chair is more elegant than van Gogh’s and stands on a fine carpet. The room is darker. Vincent thought that really suited his friend. Van Gogh’s own chair is a simple kitchen chair. It stands in a bright room on a stone floor. The daylight makes the chair even plainer. On the chair there is a pipe and little tobacco. Van Gogh shows us how he lived in a simple, modest manner, close to nature.
Homework: 1. Using the Internet, explore the web
sites:
www.globalgallery.com/bios/gauguin.html
visit to Gauguin prints and posters
www.vangoghmuseum.nl – a visit to the van Gogh
museum in Amsterdam.
Reflect upon the following:
How do the pictures of chairs tell us about the friendship between van Gogh and Gauguin?
What really happened to cause van Gogh to cut off his ear?
(The friendship between van Gogh seems to have been a difficult one. In his letters to Theo, van Gogh often complained about Gauguin. He felt he wasn’t interested enough in his plans and his art. They often argued and van Gogh often lost his temper and quickly became angry. At these moments of depression, he no longer had full control of his actions and did not really know what he was doing. After one of these quarrels, Gauguin stormed out of the yellow house. Van Gogh had such a fit of rage and became so confused; he cut off a piece of his ear!)
- Day 4. Students will sketch “Mrs. Langsner’s Chair." Through careful observation, students will practice their drawing skills, while paying attention to the details of the teacher’s chair in the art room. They will have to add their own interpretations of what makes this chair Mrs. Langners’, the art teacher.
Using van Gogh’s chairs as an example of a portrait, they will add artistic elements to Mrs. Langsner’s chair.
Lesson #2: The Literary Palette: Connecting Art & Literature
- Day 5. Teacher reads aloud to students Visiting Vincent van Gogh by Caroline Breunesse. Upon completion of the read-aloud, students will respond to the following during class discussion.
1. What are the main characteristics of a van Gogh painting?
(thick, heavy swirls of color to express his emotions)
2. What did Van Gogh try to capture in his paintings?
(He captured his feelings about the people and places that were most important to him.)
Using classroom chairs as a model, students will begin sketching ideas for their own chair constructions.
- Day 6. Students will silently read “An Explosive Friendship” (Art & Man Magazine, Sept./Oct. 1990, Working with Color, Vincent van Gogh).
They will respond to the following in their notebooks:
- 1. How did van Gogh feel when he moved to the town of Arles in the south of France?
(He loved the bright colors he found there and he painted steadily, but felt very lonely and isolated.)
- 2. How did van Gogh feel about having Gauguin come to live with him?
(He was looking forward to it. He prepared the house with furniture and paintings. He wanted to make a good impression on Gauguin.)
- 3. How did Gauguin feel about Vincent after having lived with him for a while?
(The tension between them was unbearable. He was afraid to be with him. He felt he had gone mad.)
- 4. What triggered van Gogh to cut off his ear?
(At an evening cafe, van Gogh threw his glass at Gauguin’s head. He stormed out of the cafe, and Vincent ran after him with a razor in his hand. He slashed his ear with the razor and was taken to the hospital. Gauguin left, and the two never saw each other again.)
- 5. Compare van Gogh’s The Night Cafe with Gauguin’s Portrait of van Gogh Painting Sunflowers in Arles. How is these two artists’ painting style reflect their emotional state of mind and begin to take on a sense of “modern art”?
(Van Gogh uses opposite colors that clash, the light yellow floor brushstrokes seem to shimmer and vibrate. The distorted perspective and empty chairs add to the feeling of tension and loneliness. Gauguin uses complementary pairs to express tension as well. He uses imaginative, flat areas of color in an expressive way. The flowers do not seem real, rather as an extension of van Gogh’s paintbrush.)
Students will complete their chair sketches and add color pencil.
Lesson #3: The Modern Palette: Contemporary Art Styles
- Day 7 -
1. Students will view and discuss slides from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (see Resource List)
2. Students will explore the works of many of the most famous modern artists of the 20thC.
3. Students will recognize abstract art as a pure art form.
4. Students will explore, criticize, evaluate, and articulate their own interpretations of these works, as it applies to their real world and understanding.
- What do you see in this painting?
- What makes you say that?
- How do the colors add to the mood of this painting?
- Why is this an example of “abstract art”?
- Which artist do you think painted this? Why?
Teacher Notes: To interpret a work of art is to develop an understanding of and an appreciation for the vision of the artist who has created it, but the interpretation is in equal measure to each viewer’s unique perspective. Contemporary artists challenge us to accept new ideas. They stimulate our imagination and creativity in the way we look at things. We learn to look at our environment and find things that at first are unrecognizable, to now have new interpretation and meanings.
Traditional methods of painting and sculpture were no longer used. Throughout the 20thC. artists were exploring methods and materials that were unheard of before. These new art forms were called:
“Pop Art” – 1950’s, “Op Art”- 1960’s, “Color Field Painting” – 1950’s –1960’s, “Minimal Art” – 1960’s – present, “Photorealism” – 1967-1977, and “Conceptual Art” – 1970’s – present.
- Day 8. Students will copy into notebooks and match the correct artist to what that artist is best known for.
F 1) Jackson Pollock a) Post-Impressionism
A 2) Vincent van Gogh b) Photorealism
D 3) Georges Seurat c) Pop Art
C 4) Andy Warhol d) Pointillism
G 5) Pablo Picasso e) Abstraction
E 6) Georgia O’Keeffe f) Abstract Expressionism
B 7) Chuck Close g) Cubism
Using sketchpads, students will then sketch ideas for their “Modern Art” chair. They will consider the design of the chair as it reflects the artist of their choice. A color study will follow as students develop their ideas.
Lesson #4: The Studio Palette: Constructing a Three-dimensional Chair
- Day 9-16. Students will construct a 3-dimensional cardboard chair reflecting the style of a “modern artist.”
- Day 17-24. Students will creatively paint, using tempera and acrylic, and design their chairs using the color palettes, patterns and brushstrokes of their artist.
- Day 25. Students will exhibit their work and “guess” the modern artist “Who’s Been Sitting in My Chair?”