SIXTH CLASS: STILL LIFE I. INTRODUCTION In today’s class we are going to examine two examples of still life painting. Does anyone remember what type objects are often found in still life paintings? Fruit, vegetables, meat, flowers, books, clocks, chinaware, silverware, glassware, bottles, pipes, fabrics, etc. (If time permits, show students different examples of still life painting from an art history text or an art magazine.) What do these objects have in common? They are all small enough to fit on a table, and they are all motionless. Can anyone make up a definition of a still life painting? An arrangement of non-moving objects. These are typically shown close up. Who knows what the term "composition" means in art? The arrangement of shapes, lines and colors in a painting. Still life painting, because it focuses on a few objects at close range, is an easy type of art in which to study how an artist puts a picture together, i.e., how he or she arranges its composition. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists were attracted to still life painting, each for his own reasons and each with a somewhat different result. Before revealing today's artworks, let's get our eyes ready for looking. II. EYE EXERCISES VI. STILL LIFE PAINTING A. Vase of Roses Artist - Vincent van Gogh – Dutch (l853-l890) Year Painted - l890 Medium - oil on canvas Props - poster of painting; white paper and colored pencils, crayons or Craypas for each child; green vase; a pink or white rose (either fabric or real) for each student in the class; a green cloth or large piece of construction paper for the background. Activities - Arranging a still life; sketching a still life BACKGROUND INFORMATION (for the teacher) Van Gogh painted Vase of Roses in early May, l890 a few months before he took his own life. Our painting is part of a group of still lifes that the artist completed at the mental asylum in Saint-Rémy right before leaving for Auvers in the north of France. After van Gogh’s long mental breakdown between mid-February and late April, 1890, he painted 11 canvases in 16 days, an extraordinary burst of energy and creativity. He painted two canvases of irises--we study the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the first level Learning to Look course--and two of roses. Each pair contains one painting in a horizontal format and the other in a vertical format. They represent van Gogh at the height of his artistic powers. As the artist himself remarked, "And those last days at St. Rémy I still worked as in a frenzy. Great bunches of flowers, violet irises, big bouquets of roses...." In a letter to his brother Theo on May l3, l890, he described how at that moment he felt able to paint untroubled by psychic illness. "I tell you, I feel my head is absolutely calm for my work, and the brush strokes come to me and follow each other logically." Sadly, this period of mental tranquility did not last. DIALOGUE SUGGESTIONS (for classroom presentation) Show students van Gogh's Vase of Roses without revealing its creator. Tell students that we saw another painting by this same artist in the last class. Who remembers his name? Vincent van Gogh (Students find it easier to identify van Gogh's pictures by his distinctive style of painting more than almost any other artist.) Last year we also looked at a still life by Van Gogh. Does anyone remember the flowers he used in that painting? Irises What does van Gogh show in the still life we are looking at today? A vase of flowers. Can you identify these flowers? They are roses. What does the rose symbolize? Love Can anyone find any rosebuds? Point them out. What might they stand for? A new beginning, new life. The name of this painting is Vase of Roses. It was done in l890 and is one of eleven large paintings that van Gogh did in the mental asylum at St. Rémy between the end of April and May l6. This is an amazing creative effort. Of these eleven paintings, four were still lifes of flowers, two of irises and two of roses. Here is the horizontal version of Van Gogh’s Vase of Roses. How many roses does van Gogh depict in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s version of this still life? Too many to count. Over 40 flowers! What covers the most space in this picture? The roses They extend almost to the top of the canvas and to each side. They are presented on a splendid, large scale. What feeling does this great mass of flowers create? One of energy, abundance, movement, vibration What two colors interest van Gogh most here and where do you find them? Green and pink. There are several shades of green: the light yellow-green of the background, the forest green of the faience vase, and the deeper green of the leaves. There are also several shades of pinkish-white: the roses and the tabletop. Do you know what happens to colors when exposed to sunlight for a long time? They fade. In this case, the roses were once pinker but the pigment faded. They were never very pink, however, because the artist referred to them as white once in a letter. They were probably closer to the color of the rose at the far left. The tabletop also appears pinker at the edges where the canvas has been protected from the light by the frame. What other colors has van Gogh used? Red, blue, yellow and purple, as well as black and white. Do you think the colors in this painting clash or harmonize? They harmonize. Because only two colors predominate, they create a soft, subdued, peaceful effect. Into what two shapes has van Gogh divided the background? Two unequal rectangles of the green backdrop and the pinkish table. Is the space in this painting shallow or deep? Very shallow There is little sense of depth and little shading. What prevents the roses from appearing to topple over? Hint: what balances the roses in the vase? Van Gogh has painted fallen leaves and bloom on the table as a counterweight to the flowers in the vase. They also don't appear top-heavy because the blooms cover almost the entire center space of the picture. What shape do the roses in the vase form? Almost a perfect circle. Where else do you find circular shapes and curved lines repeated? In the individual flowers and in the outline of the vase. All these curved lines create a rhythmic quality that make the roses seem as if they are still growing in nature. What other type lines add to the feeling of energy? Many of the leaves form sharp jagged or zigzag lines. How has van Gogh painted the leaves to make them appear even sharper? He has outlined them. What colors has the artist used for these outlines? Blue and green Where else do you see outlines? Around the edge of the vase and in some of the roses to describe their petals. Do you think this painting was done quickly or slowly? Very quickly yet with assurance. It is wrong to imagine van Gogh painting like a madman. He painted with great energy and intensity, but he was not able to paint at all when he suffered one of his attacks of mental illness. Here van Gogh seems relatively calm and sure of himself. How many brush strokes did he use to paint the flowers and leaves on the table? Count them. Eight strokes make up the leaves on the left and nineteen constitute the blossom and leaves on the right. Do you think the bouquet of real roses that van Gogh arranged in order to paint it looked like the finished picture? Why or why not? (Let your students discuss the role of the artist's imagination and vision for a while. Make sure to point out to them some of the ways that the painted version was different from the real bouquet by asking supplemental questions.) What is missing from the stems of the roses? Thorns! (If you are doing the still life recreation with fabric flowers, it would be helpful to bring in at least one live rose in order to point out how the rose petals are arranged and what the leaves and thorns look like.) In a bouquet this size, would all the stems be able to reach the vase in order to get water? Which probably wouldn't? The flowers in the top left corner seem too far away from the vase for their stems to reach the water. If this were true, they would die in a day or two. What emotion does this painting make you feel? Energy, joy, happiness, beauty Earlier in his career Van Gogh wrote to explain why he painted: “…I have walked this earth for thirty years, and, out of gratitude, want to leave some souvenir in the shape of drawings or pictures—not made to please a certain taste in art, but to express a sincere human feeling. So this work is my aim…” ACTIVITY: RE-CREATING A STILL LIFE Re-creating a still life helps reinforce the point that van Gogh's painting is not a totally realistic description of a bouquet of flowers, but rather emphasizes artistic concerns such as the balance of colors and shapes and lines. Hand each student a flower. Have them come up one at a time and place it in a green vase.