Q & A training Bedroom

• Kunst
• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)

Van Gogh Museum

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the Van Gogh Museum: it’s a museum dedicated to the artist Vincent van Gogh, located in Amsterdam in The Netherlands and it houses the largest collection of works and letters by Vincent van Gogh worldwide.

Who

am I?

‘I think there would be children who became painters if only they saw good things’

This is a quote by Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo, dating on or about Friday, 20 September 1889. It shows that the artist himself already saw the importance of bringing children into contact with works of art. 

Missie

The Van Gogh Museum inspires a diverse audience with the life and work of Vincent van Gogh and his time. 

Mission

We think it is a lovely quote to accompany the mission of the museum, which is inspiring a diverse audience with the life and work of Vincent van Gogh and his time.

The goals of this training

• the bedroom
• 5 lessons
• 5 creative activities
• Lessonup

- 21st century skills

Critical thinking

Creativity

Collaboration

Communication

Information literacy

Media literacy

Technology literacy

Flexibility

Leadership

Initiative

Productivity

Social skills

This is Vincent 

Introduce yourself and explain that you will be coming to give a number of lessons about Vincent van Gogh. You have even brought one of his paintings with you. It’s not the real thing, but it almost looks like it is.

Don’t reveal at this point which painting you’ve brought. The museum edition is on an easel, with a cloth draped over it.

Explain that you’re going to make something in each lesson:

Lesson 1. A story

Lesson 2. A drawing

Lesson 3. A painting

Lesson 4. A photo

Lesson 5. An exhibition of everything you’ve made

Are you like Vincent?

I don’t know what I want to be yet

1

I’m stubborn

2

I like nature

3

I find it difficult to stick to rules 

4

I work hard / don’t give up easily 

5

I fall in love very easily

6

I like to do things in a new or different way 

7

One day I’m happy and full of energy, and the next I’m tired and feeling down 

8

I want to mean something (to others/the world) 

9

I make my own choices, even if they are not popular 

10

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. 

Film clip: My Story, duration: 4:51 min

The Bedroom 

Now reveal the museum edition (maybe get one of the kids to help). Does anyone know this painting? 

Explain that the painting you’ve brought along was made with a 3D printer. First the real painting was scanned. Then this print was made from the scan. All the lumps of paint in the original are also in this fake version.

In the following slides, you and the kids will investigate the colours, shapes and lines in the painting (VTR: colour shape line)
 

Invite the children to come and feel the painting in small groups. They can run their open hand over the lumps of paint. Where are the thickest lumps? Mention that you’re not usually allowed to do this in a museum, as it would damage the painting. Unfortunately, Vincent is no longer around to make a new one.

What colours do you see?  

Look for the reds, blues, greens and yellows in the painting. Are there any other colours? Did Vincent also use black and white? 

Explain that the colours we see in the painting now are not the same as the colours Vincent used. Most of the red paint he used was not light-resistant, and it gradually faded out of the image. That’s why the purple wall is now light blue. The floor was also much redder.

Which colours do the kids like best? The original colours, or the colours as they are now?

Assignment: zoom in  

worksheet

Give the following assignment:

Get your worksheet.

Make a square using your thumbs and index fingers and look through it at the sketch of The Bedroom on the screen. Choose a little bit of the drawing (like a bit of the floor or bed cover) and try to draw what you see in the first square. Try to follow the stripes as well as you can.

Choose an entirely different bit of the drawing and do the same again.

Discuss: What have you discovered?

In this drawing Vincent used short stripes that continue on one after another, are placed above/below/beside one another, or at right angles. This gives the drawing rhythm.

'Seeing this painting must give peace to the head, or rather, to the imagination.'

Vincent wrote:

Vincent wanted to make a painting that makes you calm. He wrote about it in a letter to Theo. Do the kids think he managed it? Who gets a completely different feeling from this painting? That’s quite possible, because art is always very personal. 

Assignment: Write a story to go with The Bedroom

worksheet

Get your worksheet.

Tell the kids that they are going to write a story to go with Van Gogh’s painting The Bedroom. It doesn’t have to be true, they can make everything up if they want. They can use the information about the yellow house, the train, the letters, the Roulin family etc., but they don’t have to. It can also be about something like a cat sneaking into the bedroom.

The kids should write a short story with a clear beginning, middle and end. They can choose from three options:

- What you see in the painting is the beginning of the story

- What you see in the painting is the middle of the story

- What you see in the painting is the end of the story

First make a mind map, with all your ideas for the story. Write down individual words. Then think of the story.

Finished? Make a little drawing to go with it!

Tell the kids: Vincent also told stories in his letters. He often did a little sketch too. When you’re done, decorate your story with one or more little sketches.

Discuss the stories. Who wants to read theirs out?

Drawing assignments

After doing an assigment on drawing depth, you can explore the furniture inside the room, and starts drawing and painting!

Painting chairs

Explain: you could say that these two paintings are portraits. Each one tells us a lot about the owner of the chair.

What does Vincent’s chair tell us about him?

- He likes simple things (you can see this in the chair he chose, it’s simple)

- He likes to smoke a pipe

- He’s a practical/active person (the chair is made so you can be active when you sit on it; it would be good for drawing or chopping food, for example; it’s not made to chill out in)

- He likes to be in the kitchen

- He’s a daytime person

- Etc.

What does Paul’s chair tell us about him?

- Elegant/mysterious/stylish

- Likes reading

- Is an evening or night person

- Has style

- Etc.

First (1, 2 and 3), draw a cube with charcoal using very thin lines. The children should use charcoal.

Then (4, 5 and 6) use a thick line to draw over the lines of the cube that make a chair.  

And rub out the other lines as much as possible.

1

2

3

4

5

6

If you think drawing a cube is too complicated for these kids, there is another way. It doesn’t give them as much insight, but it can save time (and frustration).

Start by drawing a diamond shape (the seat of the chair) in the middle of the sheet (1).

Then draw two vertical lines of equal length pointing upwards ... (2)

And three vertical lines of equal length pointing downwards (3) + a line connecting the two lines pointing upwards (4). Show how you can make the seat and a chair leg thicker, as an example (5 and 6).

Explain: now you’re going to turn this basic chair into your own chair, by changing and adding things. Show what you mean using three examples on the smartboard. 

Place or hang the paintings 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 chairs where you can easily tell who painted it?
• Which chairs have interesting shapes or materials?
• Who used unusual colours?
• Did you enjoy making the paintings?

Photos

Re-establish contact with the kids and tell them that today you’re going to be making the final piece of art for the exhibition. In the next lesson you will be making an exhibition.

The kids should all have brought something from home. Things for their self-portrait. Group the things together on several number of tables. If the kids haven’t brought much with them, add some extra items from the classroom. It could be anything, as long as it isn’t valuable.

Now we’re going to get to work. We’re going to do it in stages. We’ll be making an artistic photographic portrait which, if you look closely, says something about who you are. At the end of the lesson you’ll write a little label to go with the picture, explaining what you were trying to say (see hotspot).

There’s often a label next to an artwork in a museum. It gives you the most important information in not too many words. Read out the label for The Bedroom. Or have one of the kids read it.

Discuss two photographic portraits and read their labels out, so it’s clear what the kids have to do.

The exhibition

Re-establish contact with the kids and tell them that today you’re going to be making the exhibition of everything you’ve made in the lessons. To inspire the kids, tell them something about what the Van Gogh Museum looks like. 

Orange makes The Bedroom…

Blue makes The Bedroom …

Green makes The Bedroom …

Yellow makes The Bedroom …

You’ve brought with you four pieces of fabric the size of a sheet in different colours: green, orange, blue and brown. Together with one of the students, hold each one up in turn behind the museum edition. Do this without saying anything, until you’ve done all the colours. Hold the sheet behind the painting for at least 15 seconds. The kids should look quietly and think about what the background colour does to the painting.

After each colour, the students should write down one word to finish the sentence on the slide. Eventually, everyone will have written down four words.

Divide the class into pairs. The kids tell each other what they wrote down in random order. Then they try to guess which word belongs with which colour.

Then discuss as a class whether there were any surprises, or had they all written down more or less the same things? What did you notice about the effect of the different background colours? (e.g. a different colour can draw your eye to things in the painting that you didn’t notice before / colours seem more intense or softer / you might get a different feeling from the painting) Which colour do you think goes best with this painting?

Evaluation

Re-establish contact with the kids and tell them that today you’re going to be making the exhibition of everything you’ve made in the lessons. To inspire the kids, tell them something about what the Van Gogh Museum looks like. 

Quotes and numbers.

Q & A 

- questions?

- anything missing?

Learning objectives clear for your students

Thank you!