Lesson 1: This is Vincent
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Lesson duration is: 90 minInstructions
Equipment
Digital Blackboard/screen
Internet connection
For each student:
A pencil (grey)
Pencil sharpener
Eraser
A few sheets of coloured paper
White paper
Glue
Approximate timings for this lesson:
15 minutes Intro and are you like Vincent
10 minutes True or false
5 minutes Film clip + what are you good at
10 minutes Introduction Undergrowth
45 minutes Paper artwork
5 minutes Discuss assignment
Total 90 minutes
Items in this lesson
Slide 1 - Slide
This item has no instructions
Slide 2 - Slide
Give a brief introduction. Explain that the next three lessons will be about Vincent van Gogh and his work.
There will be lots of assignments to do. You don’t need to be good at it. ‘I always draw what I cannot, so that I may learn to do it’, Vincent once wrote to his brother Theo.
Over the next few lessons we’re going to make some art together. Today we’ll start by making a artwork with stripes and dots.
But first, let’s learn a bit more about Vincent.
Slide 3 - Slide
Explain: before we start exploring the life of Vincent, and we discover whether you already know something about him, let’s have a look at Vincent himself, and whether you are like him. I’ve got ten statements. Think for yourself whether you think each one describes you. You don’t need to share your answers. Keep a count of how many times you answer yes.
Discuss the fact that anyone who often answered ‘yes’ is like Vincent in some ways.
Slide 4 - Slide
Check what the students already know about Vincent van Gogh. Explain that you’re going to show eight slides, each with two statements. One is true and one is false. What do the students think, and why?
First, read out both statements, so they can think for a moment. Then read them again. Anyone who thinks the statement is true should stand. If they think it’s false, they stay seated. This gives you an idea of what the kids already know, and you can gather some basic information. Use the information in this guide to give and explain the right answer for each slide.
True of false?
Statement 1:
Statement 1:
A
Vincent van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890
B
Vincent van Gogh is still alive
Slide 5 - Quiz
The first statement (A) is true.
Vincent lived over 130 years ago. He only lived to the age of 37.
True of false?
Statement 2:
Statement 2:
A
Vincent was a Dutch artist who moved to France
B
Vincent was a French artist
Slide 6 - Quiz
The first statement (A) is true.
Vincent was Dutch, but he made a lot of his paintings in France. He moved to Paris to get inspiration from French artists. He later moved to the French countryside because he loved painting it. Point out the different places on the map (see next slide).
Slide 7 - Slide
Orange arrow is pointing to The Netherlands
Blue arrow is pointing to France
Old map: 1843
True of false?
Statement 3:
Statement 3:
A
Vincent painted the Sunflowers, the Potato Eaters and 43 other paintings
B
Vincent made more than 850 paintings
Slide 8 - Quiz
Statement B is true.
Vincent made more than 850 paintings in his life. We don’t know exactly how many, because lots of them have been lost. He also painted over some, and he swapped his paintings for other artworks. But he made many many paintings in just 10 years, that is certain. He called himself a ‘painting-locomotive’ (Vincent lived in the age of the steam train).
True of false?
Statement 4:
Statement 4:
A
This is a photo of Vincent van Gogh .
B
This is a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh.
Slide 9 - Quiz
Both are true.
The photo shows Vincent at 19, when he did not yet know he would become a painter. He had put on his best clothes for a photograph that was going to be a gift for his father. In the self-portrait Vincent is a grown man. He painted himself looking in the mirror. Do the kids think the person in the photo and the self-portrait look the same? Unfortunately, there are no photo portraits of Vincent as an adult.
True of false?
Statement 5:
Statement 5:
A
Vincent was already producing amazing paintings when he was 12
B
Vincent had to practise a lot to become a good painter
Slide 10 - Quiz
Statement B is true.
Vincent practised a lot to become a good painter. He had a hard time with perspective and proportions, for example. He made lots of studies so he could master these things. He also looked at a lot of art by other people, and read about art, teaching himself more and more. He developed a quick, rhythmic style of painting. He wrote that he had painted Wheatfield with Crows in an hour and a half, but it had taken him ten years to be able to do that.
See quote on the next slide.
Slide 11 - Slide
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True of false?
Statement 6:
Statement 6:
A
We do not know what Vincent was trying to say in his paintings
B
Vincent wrote hundreds of letters about his art
Slide 12 - Quiz
Statement B is true.
Vincent sometimes wrote two letters a day, most of them to his brother Theo. A lot of his letters have survived and they have been published. A lot of what we know about Vincent van Gogh comes from his letters.
True of false?
Statement 7:
Statement 7:
A
Vincent got money from his brother Theo to buy painting stuff
B
Vincent was a poor artist
Slide 13 - Quiz
Statement A is true.
Lots of people think that Vincent was a poor artist. Actually, he had plenty of money, he just spent it rather quickly! He mainly bought lots and lots of painting stuff, but he also had to pay his rent. Vincent didn’t earn any money himself. He got it from his brother Theo, who tried to sell Vincent’s paintings in exchange. Theo continued to send Vincent money for ten years to help him make his living as a painter.
True of false?
Statement 8:
Statement 8:
A
Vincent did not become famous until after his death
B
Vincent sold some paintings before they were finished because they were so popular
Slide 14 - Quiz
If only the second statement were true! Unfortunately, Vincent only sold one painting during his life: The Red Vineyard (see next slide).
Statement A is true.
Slide 15 - Slide
After answering the true/false questions, the kids know quite a lot about Van Gogh. Tell them that you’re now going to watch a film clip in which will they will find out more about him.
On the next two slides you can choose between the Spanish spoken video or English spoken video.
Slide 16 - Video
(ESPAÑOL) Film clip: La historia de mi vida, duration: 4:51 min
Slide 17 - Slide
What are you good at?
The film ends with the question ‘what are you good at?’. Ask the students what they are good at. Ask them some more questions about it: Was it difficult to learn? Did you have to do loads of practising like Vincent, or were you good at it straightaway? Is it fun to learn something, or is it only fun once you can do it? Have you ever had the feeling that you were born to do something? Like dancing or football, for example?
And if the students can’t think of anything they’re good at, ask them what they would like to be good at. And what is ‘good’ anyway?
Slide 18 - Slide
Today we’re going to learn more about one of Van Gogh’s paintings. You can see it here. Or rather, you can see a small detail of it.
What do the students see?
Discuss the stripes of paint. Then ask the students if they can guess what the painting is of.
Let’s zoom out a bit.
Slide 19 - Slide
Can the students spot the orange and yellow stripes in the bottom right corner? We’ve zoomed out a long way now.
What do they notice now?
What colours do they see?
What might this be? Let’s zoom out a little further!
Slide 20 - Slide
Can the students see what it is now?
It’s a nature scene. By beginning with a very small detail, you’ve shown the students how many stripes and colours Van Gogh used when he was painting things from nature. And if we zoom right out we can see all kinds of colours! (next slide)
Slide 21 - Slide
Get the students to say what colours they can see in this painting. There’s a lot more than just green. Do they use these colours themselves when they’re trying to imitate nature? Explain that we’re going to learn more about how this painting was made in this lesson.
Van Gogh made this painting in the garden of an institution in Saint-Remy. He was a residential patient, and he spent a lot of time painting in the garden there. In this painting you see trees covered in ivy. The sun is shining in the distance, but there’s shade under the trees.
The sunshine is also coming through the trees a bit, so you can see little patches of light everywhere. Vincent used lots of colours and stripes to paint the trees in the sunlight. Explain that we’re going to learn more about how he did that.
Slide 22 - Slide
We’ve just seen that the picture was made by placing small stripes of paint close together. Van Gogh discovered this technique thanks to pointillism.
Artists were experimenting a lot with different ways of painting during Van Gogh’s time. Before, artists tried to paint as realistically as possible, but when photography came along that
was no longer so interesting. So painters started experimenting with new techniques. They
explored how they could capture light and colour in their art. One of these new techniques was pointillism, which involves placing dots or stripes of paint very close together.
Seurat was one of the artists whose work had shown Van Gogh that you could make a painting with stripes and dots of paint. Van Gogh gave the technique his own twist, but he still used the stripes and the different colours next to each other. Just look at the close-up again and see how he painted little stripes of green and yellow side by side.
We see different colours right next to each other a lot in Van Gogh’s work. Let's see how he chose the colours.
Slide 23 - Slide
This is a colour wheel from the time of Van Gogh. You can use it to mix and choose colours. Vincent often used complementary colours beside each other. Complementary colours are
those that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, like blue and orange, red and green.
Slide 24 - Slide
Discuss with the students which complementary colour combinations they can see in the painting.
Van Gogh used a trick when choosing these combinations. Watch the video on the next slide to find out more about it.
Slide 25 - Video
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Slide 26 - Slide
Now that we know more about the colours that Van Gogh used, we’re going to make our own ‘stippled’ artwork!
1. Choose a small subject in the classroom, like a pencil, a lunchbox or an eraser. Put it in front of you. Look at it carefully and make a big drawing of it on paper with pencil.
2. Finished?
Now we’re going to colour the drawing by sticking small strips of paper on it. Choose two or three colours of paper. Find a colour combination that you think works well, like Van Gogh. Are you going to go for complementary colours?
3. Tear the paper into small strips and stick them on the drawing. Be careful about which colours you put next to each other. Think about the light and shade, just like Van Gogh did.
4. Finished?
Place or hang the drawings next to each other and talk about them together. You might like to use the following questions. NB: there are no right or wrong answers here.
- Are there any artworks where you can easily tell who made it?
- Who used unusual perspectives, lines or colours?
- Did you enjoy making the artworks?
Slide 27 - Slide
Explain: in the following lessons you will get to know the artist in you better and better. Keep everything you’ve made during this lesson, even the sketches that are not finished, or which you think are not so good. In lesson three we’ll look back at all the artworks you've made.
