Lesson by Van Gogh Museum
This lesson contains 30 slides, with text slides.
Tell the class: This painting of the church in the village of Nuenen has become world-famous. Does anyone know why?
Go on to the next slide, which gives two reasons.
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, 1884-1885.
Tell the class: This is Vincent Van Gogh.
Question: What do you know about him?
Make sure the class at least knows that he is a famous Dutch painter from the 19th century. Summarize the class responses and go on to the next slide.
Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1886.
Tell the class: Vincent painted this church especially for his mother Anna, who had broken her leg while getting off a train. Vincent hoped that the painting would cheer her up. It probably reminded his mother of his father, who worked in the church.
Question: Do you think this
painting cheered up his mother?
Continue: After
Vincent finished the painting, he wrote a letter to his brother Theo. This
letter included a sketch of the church. That
was Vincent's way of showing Theo what he was painting. You
can see the sketch here.
Continue: The sketch in the letter was made with ink, and the painting was made with oil paint. That's one big difference between the two.
Question: What other differences can you find?
Give the class some time to
study the painting and respond to the question. Then go on to the next slide, which gives a few
possible answers.
Discuss the differences.
Question: Which difference do you think is most important? And why?
Question: Why do you think he did that?
Go on to the next slide to see a close-up view of the churchgoers in the foreground.Tell the class: Take a good look at the people coming out of the church. They're wearing dark clothing. Question: Can you guess why?
Vincent's father died soon
after the painting was finished. The Van Gogh Museum believes that these people are wearing dark clothing
because they are in mourning. So the painting shows Vincent's sadness about his father's death.
Assignment: Let's measure how much larger they are.
Have the students work in
pairs for the measuring assignment on the next slide.
TIP: Save all your measurements. You will need them later.
Have the students do the measurement.
TIP: Save all your measurements. You will need them later in the lesson.
Read the assignment aloud (or have someone else do it)
and ask whether everyone understands it. Go on to the next slide to show the
painting.
Have the students do the measurement.
TIP: Save all your measurements. You'll need them later in the lesson.
Read the assignment aloud (or have someone else do it)
and ask whether everyone understands it. Go on to the next slide to show the
painting.
Have the students do the measurement.
Question: Why are there so many different results?
Answers:
Answer: A painting is flat. By painting things larger in front and smaller in back, the painter makes it look as if there is space inside the painting.
Explain: In a painting, we call the front the foreground. Things in the foreground seem close by. We call the back the background. Things in the background seem far away.
Question: Are the people coming out of the church in the foreground or in the background? What about the people in front?
Tell the class: You've just made some measurements. Now we'll do arithmetic with those measurements. You can work in pairs again.
Go to the next slide for the assignment.
Find the difference in height, as a percentage, between the person in the background and the person in the foreground.
Read the assignment aloud. Ask: Does everyone understand?
Now have the students discuss, in pairs, how they can calculate this percentage.
Go on to the next two slides
to discuss how to find the solution, using a made-up example.
To calculate the height of the person in back as a percentage of the other person's height:
The illustration shows a made-up example:
Now calculate the difference in size between the person
in front and the person in back, as a percentage. This
is the red line.
100% - 45% = 55%
The person in back is 55%
shorter than the one in front.
Continue: The next arithmetic assignment is also about the proportions in the painting. Take a good look at the door of the church. That's what this assignment is about.
Go on to the next slide for the assignment.
Imagine the group of people in the foreground were standing next to the church. Then Vincent would have had to make the church much larger.
Calculate how large the church door
would have to be (in cm) if it were next to the people in front.
Read the assignment aloud.
Ask: Does everyone understand?
Then have the students discuss, in pairs, how they can calculate this percentage.
Go on to the next slide to
discuss the calculation.
5.9 cm x 100 = 590 cm.
590 cm / 45 = 13.1
cm.
Question: What else did Vincent do to create an impression of depth or space in the painting?
After
the students respond, go on to the next slide, which gives some answers.
The horizon: The horizon is the line where the ground meets the sky. Here, it isn't clear because of the trees.
Overlapping forms: The people cover part of the hedge, and the trees cover part of the church.
Question: What do you think would happen if you made the things in the foreground small and the things in the background large?
Discuss the question with the class and then go on
to the next slide to see an example.
Tell the class: Look, here the large people are in the background and the small ones are in the foreground. Is this how you thought it would look?
Discuss the results with the class.
Then go on to the next slide to see the two versions side by side.
Question: Which version do you prefer, and why?
Continue: It's important for a painter to use the right proportions.
Question: Who can explain why that's important?
You can end the lesson by discussing this question with the class.