Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Outreach Programs
Exploring Impressionism: The Art of Claude Monet Teaching Resources
Overview: During Exploring Impressionism, students learned to identify elements that made the Impressionist art movement distinct from what had come before in European art. Teachers and students can continue their exploration of Impressionism by creating their own “series” artworks, writing letters to Claude Monet, or casting their vote for a favorite MFA Impressionist artwork.
Curriculum: Visual Arts, History, Language Arts & Literacy Grade Range: 1 – 5
Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression The MFA brings together its unparalleled collection of Monet paintings for the first time in a generation—in honor of its 150th anniversary. Visit the online exhibition webpage to preview the artworks, download a Monet virtual background, and explore related music and videos (including a 1915 video clip of Monet painting beside his water lily pond!).
Create your own Series Claude Monet often created painting series – numerous paintings of the same scene to explore the effects of light, color, time of day, and weather conditions over time and through different seasons, like Grainstack (Snow Effect) and Grainstack (Sunset). Have students create their own series depicting the same scene at different times of day.
1. Gather materials: a. Paper b. Choose: Crayons, Colored Pencils, Markers, or Paint 2. Choose a view outside your window or an area in your yard. 3. Plan two different times of the day to paint or draw your view. 4. Think about what colors would help you show the time of day, the weather, and the season. 5. After you have created the two works of art, show them to a friend or family member. Ask them what time of day, weather, or season they think your two artworks depict. What clues did they see in your artwork that helped them reach their conclusion?
Letters to Monet The American artist John Singer Sargent was interested in Impressionism and met Claude Monet in Paris around 1876. The John Singer Sargent Archive at the MFA includes 15 letters from Sargent to Monet that
Image Credits: Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter, 1978.633; Water Lilies, 19.170; Grainstiack (Sunset), 25.112 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Outreach Programs
Exploring Impressionism: The Art of Claude Monet Teaching Resources highlight their lifelong friendship. Read aloud one or two of Sargent’s letters to Monet and show the image of the handwritten letter (if available below).
● Letter from Sargent to Monet, July 1888 ● Letter from Sargent to Monet, 1891 ● Letter from Sargent to Monet, September 1, 1891 ● Letter from Sargent to Monet, 1894 ● Letter from Sargent to Monet, December 28, 1894
Introduce, or review, the basic components of a letter with your students and then ask them to write a short letter to Claude Monet. What would they tell him? What would they ask?
Boston Loves Impressionism: Recount In 2014, the MFA asked the public to vote for their favorite Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork in the museum’s collection. There were 50 different artworks in the running and – after 41, 497 votes were cast – the following five came in at the top:
1. Houses at Auvers, 1890, Vincent van Gogh (4,464 votes) 2. Water Lilies, 1907, Claude Monet (3,543 votes) 3. Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, original model 1878–81, cast after 1921, Edgar Degas (2,869 votes) 4. Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter, 1875, Claude Monet (2,839 votes) 5. Meadow with Poplars, about 1875, Claude Monet (2,523 votes)
Look at the top five artworks with your class and discuss the ELBOW concepts (Everyday Life, Light, Brushstrokes, Outdoors, Weather) they can identify in each work. Afterwards, take a class vote to determine which of the top five artworks is their favorite!
Videos
● Cleaning Monet’s Canvases by Harvard Art Museums Andrea von Hedenström, paintings conservation fellow at the Harvard Art Museums, discusses the process of removing layers of varnish from Claude Monet’s paintings. ● A New Gallery Dedicated to Monet by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Get a look inside the MFA’s Monet gallery and hear curator Katie Hanson talk about Monet’s use of different motifs (snowy towns, water lilies, grainstacks, etc.) throughout his career.
Books
● Katie Meets The Impressionists by James Mayhew (age range: 4-7) ● Charlotte in Giverny by Joan MacPhail Knight (age range 8-11)
Image Credits: Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter, 1978.633; Water Lilies, 19.170; Grainstiack (Sunset), 25.112