Sunflowers Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890 November 2014

Objective: Students will learn about Vincent van Gogh as they create a painting in his style of art similar to Sunflowers. To understand concepts like Impasto and Expressionism.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” ~Vincent van Gogh

Vocabulary: Impasto: Applying paint in a heavy manner. Expressionism: A painting style in which the artist uses strong colors and brushstrokes to communicate emotional responses to a particular subject matter.

Book Resources: Tim and the starry night About a boy, his cat, and Vincent van Gogh

Slides Before trying to paint in the style of Vincent van Gogh you should become familiar with his paintings. Look at a few of his paintings either online or in a book and discuss them. What kind of colors does he use? How do they make you feel? Are there lots of brushstrokes? What kind is there? Does his paint blend or is it chunky? Does this painting look as if there is any motion?

Slide 1: Photograph of Vincent van Gogh At 16 Van Gogh started selling art in England Van Gogh decided to be a missionary in Belgium when he was in his 20’s The poverty he saw made him so sad, that he started painting what he saw.

Famous Dutch Painter Vincent van Gogh legal given name was Vincent Willem van Gogh. He was a post-Impressionist painter that is widely considered one of the greatest painters in history. Vincent van Gogh began painting in his late twenties, and produced more than 900 paintings. Most of Vincent van Gogh's best known works were done in his final few years. Vincent van Gogh was born on 3/30/1853, and died on 7/29/1890. Here are some of Vincent Van Gogh's most popular masterful paintings.

Slide 2: The Potato Eaters, 1885 How does this painting make you feel? He painted in dark colors to portray the sadness This was before Van Gogh had any formal training At this point, Van Gogh didn’t realize the importance of color

Wishing to emulate two of the painters whose work he admired, Dutch painter Jozef Israëls and Jean-François Millet, in 1885 Van Gogh gives us his take on the peasant theme. In a letter to his brother Theo Vincent confides: "I wanted to convey the idea that the people eating potatoes by the light of an oil lamp used the same hands with which they take food from the plate to work the land" and that "they have earned their food by honest means". Van Gogh worked on the painting while in Nuenen, the Netherlands. After his previous works had been received with reservations by Theo, Vincent is confident: "I think that the pictures of the peasants eating potatoes that I painted in Nuenen is the best of all my work."

Slide 3: The Bedroom at Arles, 1888 Van Gogh would paint pictures to show where he lived He used paintings like we would use photographs today

Van Gogh painted The Bedroom while in Arles, France. Certainly one of the most well-known paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, it depicts the interior of his bedroom in the Yellow House. Some of the most striking features of the painting are the bright and contrasting colors and the somewhat unusual perspective.

The choice of colors was not arbitrary - instead it was meant to convey a state of domestic comfort and stability. In Vincent's own words: "Color must be abundant in this part, its simplification adding a rank of grandee to the style applied to the objects, getting to suggest a certain rest or dream ". Van Gogh painted three versions of The Bedroom.

Slide 4: Starry Night, 1889 This is one of Van Gogh’s most famous and emotionally powerful paintings Sometimes when Van Gogh painted, he would just squirt the paint right on the canvas instead of using a palette – a very thick application Van Gogh was fascinated with astronomy and the sky. He liked to paint haloed stars, moons and suns

Starry Night is perhaps the most reproduced of all paintings by Vincent van Gogh. It was painted while Vincent was staying at an asylum in Saint-Remy, France.

The bright stars and moon set against a background of swirling clouds create a unique visual appeal and exude a mood to which many of us can relate. It has been speculated that the eleven stars that can be distinguished in the painting are a reminder of Vincent van Gogh's past as a young man who dreamt of becoming a pastor.

Slide 5: Sunflowers, 1888 The Sunflowers paintings are undoubtedly some of the most famous paintings by Van Gogh. Van Gogh did several still life paintings of sunflowers He used thick brushstrokes (impasto) and heavy layers of paint

Slide 6: Vase with 12 Sunflowers, 1888

He painted the series of still life’s (four paintings) in Arles in August 1889 as a preparation for the visit of his painter friend Gauguin. Finally only two will be considered worthy to decorate the room of his friend who had expressed appreciation for an earlier painting by Van Gogh depicting sunflowers, namely Sunflowers Run to Seed.

Van Gogh worked frantically on the series of sunflower themed paintings as he was eager to paint them before they wilted. From a letter to Theo: "I am working with the enthusiasm of a man from Marseilles eating bouillabaisse, which shouldn't come as a surprise to you because I am busy painting huge sunflowers."

Slide 7: Six Sunflowers (Photo), 1888

Seven different versions of the paintings of sunflowers in a vase This one not seen in public since 1948 and belongs to an unknown millionaire Five in international museums, including the National Gallery in London Seventh destroyed during World War II during a bombing raid on Japan Art historian Martin Bailey stumbled on photo while researching a book

The print — with its vivid yellows, glowing oranges, citrus greens and royal blue background — gives us a rare glimpse of what the original might have looked like.

Slide 8: Sample project for today

PROJECT

Student supplies: • 4x6 white canvas (one per student) • acrylic paints (cobalt blue, deep yellow, brown) • brushes (large and small) (3 brushes per student) • paint palettes • water containers • paper towels

What You Do: 1. Write their name on the Art Lit label and put on the back of the canvas. 2. Start this lesson by looking at Sunflowers. 3. Make a ring of yellow petals, starting from the center and brushing out in the style of Impasto (heavier application of paint). 4. Paint a circle of brown in the center. May want to use the stippling technique of just dotting the brush in the center of the flower. 5. Paint the background blue. Let dry.

Grades 3-5 Option: Have the students work with the canvas in Portrait layout.

Follow steps above, but let students decide if they want to paint 2 or 3 smaller sunflowers on the canvas in yellow; and a vase in red before painting the center in brown, and background blue.

As time allows, you have two options for the students:

1) Additional project on paper plate for kids to do the same project 2) Pass out to kids of a recreation of a Van Gogh sunflower as a coloring sheet