Masterpiece: Landscape at Arles: The Orchard, 1889 by Vincent van Gogh

Pronounced: ‘ Goph’ or ‘Go’ Keywords: Line Movement, Expressionism or Mood, Texture, Grade: 3rd Grade Month: May Activity: San Tan Mountains

Meet the Artist: • Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 in Holland and raised in a religious and cultured family. His father was a protestant preacher and he had three sisters and two brothers. • Specifics about his childhood are not known other than he was a quiet and shy child with little or no attention spent on art or having artistic qualities. • At age 16 he was employed by a large, French art dealer in The Hague; was transferred to the London gallery at age 19, then to the Paris gallery at age 21. After this relocation, he lost all desire to become a professional art dealer and decided to devote his life to preaching religious beliefs to the poor. He returned to Holland to studied theology but dropped out after one year. • He moved to a dreary mining district in Belgium and became a layman preacher but was dismissed after 6 months due to his obsessive concern for the miners and their families. • He remained in Belgium to briefly study art and during this time, he focused on painting peasants and rural scenes using dark colors and depressing settings. Here he created his first period piece called “The Potato Eaters” (1885). Show artwork and discuss the darkness of color and overall feeling of the people and space . • In 1886, he again moved to Paris, France to live with his beloved brother, Theo, and studied art. Theo was extremely influential in Vincent’s life and supported him emotionally and financially. • While in Paris, he met other famous Impressionist artists such as Degas, Monet, Seurat, and Gauguin and began to lighten his dark paint palette and use the short, quick brushstrokes emphasizing light and color that are typical of Impressionistic artists. While he was strongly influenced by these artists, he became much bolder in his paintings using bolder colors and stronger brush strokes. And although he is considered a Post-Impressionist (like Seurat), he set the principles of the Expressionist movement by showing his emotions in his paintings. • During his short residence in Paris from 1886 to 1888, many of his fellow painters saw him as a genius and he finally became confident with his personal style of art but he also became noticeably more irritable and nervous in keeping up with the expectations of being an artist. • After two, intense years in Paris, van Gogh moved to Arles, France, a small rural town where he focused his subject matter on the natural landscape. “The Landscape at Arles: The Orchard” was the first painting he did upon arrival to Arles and expresses his hope of living and working in this small town. • He would paint continuously, even when the sun would go down he would continue to paint by sticking candles on the brim of his large hat. • In a short period of ten years, between 1881 and 1890, he created approximately 900 paintings and 1100 drawings. Near the end of his life, he painted 70 paintings in 70 days. He only sold 1 painting in his lifetime; “ The Red Vineyard ” (1888). • After Vincent’s death in 1890, Theo’s wife made sure that Vincent Van Gogh got the attention he deserved in his lifetime. The letters Vincent had written to Theo gave much insight into his mind and art. • His paintings are some of the most expensive in the world, some have sold for up to 50 and 60 million dollars. • “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it” was his famous quote. There is now a Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Possible Questions: • What is the first thing you see in this picture? Where does your eye go from there? • Do you see a person? Where and how did you find him? • What are the dominant colors you see? Are they cool or warm colors; primary, secondary? • Where are the dominant lines? Fence, trees, water, houses, roads, sky, mountains. • How do these lines flow? • Which season of the year has Van Gogh painted? How do you know? Flowering trees, pale colors. • If you could choose any place to be in this landscape, where would you want to be? Why? Compare this print with “Starry Night” which was painted later on that same year. How are the lines different from “….The Orchard”? • What do these lines represent for you as the viewer? Maybe wind movement or clouds?

Activity: San Tan Mountains Resist

Materials needed : 9”x12” watercolor paper, oil pastels, liquid watercolor-diluted (black, blue, purple), 1” paint brushes, bowls for watercolor, salt, student’s own pencils, mats to cover desks, photos of the San Tan Mountains (these images are also on the CD located in the binder).

1. Prepare the bowls with diluted watercolors and 3-4 brushes to share but do not pass out until the students finish their composition. 2. On each workstation, place one or two of the images of the San Tan Mountains for students to use as their subject matter. They will need to share. You may also select one of the images that have been uploaded on the CD and display it on the classroom screen. 3. Pass out to each student the mats to cover their desks, watercolor paper, and the oil pastels. They will use their own pencils. 4. Have them start by sketching out their composition lightly with pencil. Stress that they should focus on the contour lines or outline of the images in the picture and not on the details….that will come when they use the oil pastels. This should only take about 3-5 minutes. 5. With the oil pastels, create textures and swirls of color using strong but quick lines. Encourage them to use many colors on top of each other to create movement, depth and emotion; like you see in Van Gogh’s painting. Encourage them fill the page with their image. Name and sign it on the back. 6. When finished with their oil pastel image, pass out the diluted watercolors and the paintbrushes to each workstation and have them paint over the oil pastel scene, using a light coat to accentuate darkness, texture and mood. 7. Finally, before the watercolor dries, sprinkle a little salt on the canvas and watch what happens for additional texture.