Vincent Willem Van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh December lesson Plan for Fourth Grade Winter Landscapes

Biographical information Vincent Willem van Gogh (b. March 30, 1853, Netherlands--d. July 29, 1890, near Paris), was generally considered the greatest Dutch painter and draughtsman after Rembrandt and one of the greatest Post-Impressionist artists. His work, all of it produced during a period of only 10 years, hauntingly conveys through its striking color, coarse brushwork, and contoured forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in his early death. Among his masterpieces are numerous self-portraits, landscapes, and perhaps his most well known painting, Starry Night (1889). Early in van Gogh’s life he worked for his uncle in an art gallery. Perhaps this was where he developed his love for art and his need to tell peoples’ stories through his paintings. From 1881 to 1885 van Gogh lived in the Netherlands, sometimes in lodgings, supported by his devoted brother Theo, who regularly sent him money from his own small salary. In keeping with his humanitarian outlook he painted peasants and workers, the most famous picture from this period being The Potato Eaters. These paintings used mostly earth tones and conveyed a state of despair. However, in 1886 van Gogh moved to Paris where he found new inspiration in his surroundings. Van Gogh became obsessed by the symbolic and expressive values of colors and began to use them for this purpose rather than, as did the Impressionists, for the reproduction of visual appearances, atmosphere, and light. `Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes,' he wrote, `I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly'. In February 1888 van Gogh settled at Arles, Provence where he painted more than 200 canvases in 15 months. During this time he sold no pictures, was in poverty, and suffered from depression. Van Gogh lived with Gauguin for a short time in an artist community. It was during this time that van Gogh and Gauguin had an argument and as a result van Gogh cut off part of his left ear, an event commemorated in his Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Unfortunately, this is what many people remember most about him today. However, some believe that his injury was an accident resulting from epilepsy. Today you are going to be creating your own winter landscape painting. Before getting started please discuss some of van Gogh’s works of art. Pay attention to his use of color and where he places images in his paintings. Vocabulary Words Perspective - The way in which objects appear to the eye. Distance – Numerical description of how far away objects are. Foreground – Images that appear closest to the viewer. Background – The part of a scene that appears to be the farthest from the viewer.

Discussion Questions Here are a few questions to ask the students while showing examples of van Gogh’s works of art.

How can you tell which images are in the foreground, middle ground, and background? Where was he when he painted this picture (what was his perspective)? Why do you think he uses the colors he does? Do you see any sort of pattern that he seems to use in his paintings? How did van Gogh want you to feel when viewing his paintings?

Here are some questions to ask the students after they have completed their project. If time allows, they can even use their own works of art to answer the following.

Will they use this technique in a future painting? Did they like painting this way?

Basically a brief reflection on what they had created. This is designed to be a fun activity that introduces children to a new style of art.

Winter Landscape

Materials: dark blue construction paper; white, black, light gray and dark gray tempera paint; paint brushes, paint trays, bowls for water, and paper towels for drying brushes. Newspaper for drying area. Parent volunteers will need to mix shades of gray. Perhaps use white paint with one drop of black for light gray and black with one drop of white for dark black.

Trifold board with artist examples

Demonstrate the lesson by following these step by step instructions, please remember to have the students put their name on the back of their paper before they get started and to roll up their sleeves. They may also want to wear their art smock.

Step One: Paint a layer of snow by drawing a ling across the top third of the paper and paint the space below it white. Step Two: Using the lightest gray paint, paint a winter tree: thick tree trunk and spindly branches. These trees are in the background and therefore are the lightest color. Start at the snow line and paint towards the top of the paper, allowing the branches to continue off of the paper.

Step Three: Using the medium gray, paint the middle-ground trees. Have students begin painting the trees in the center of the snow. The students can paint as many trees as they would like. Remind them to allow the tree branches to extend off of the top of the paper and overlap the background tree branches.

Step Four: Using the black paint, paint the trees closest to you. These trees begin near the bottom of the paper. Extend the branches off to the side and top of the paper. Kids at this age want to stop painting the branches before they go off the edge and will often resist painting over the other branches. Remind them that when we look out a window, all of the images within nature overlap each other. This is what helps us to understand depth perspective.

If time permits, the students can add a snowman to their painting.