Masterpiece: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
Keywords: movement, line, expressionism
Grade: 3rd Grade
Month: October
Activity: Crayon Resist
Meet the Artist:
· Born in 1853 in the Netherlands.
· He wanted to be a preacher, but was told to leave by the church because he embraced poverty with too much zeal.
· Then he taught as a school teacher in England. Afterwards, he became an art dealer.
· After that period of time, he moved to France and painted or drew 2000 works of art in the next 10 years of his life.
· His life is very celebrated and has many myths involved in it.
· His closest friend and relative was his brother Theo, who also supported him financially. He spent his life is poverty, choosing to paint than to have the money to eat.
· While he was strongly influenced by the impressionists of the day, he became much bolder in his paintings. He was a pioneer for expressionism. Expressionists profoundly show their emotions through their paintings.
· His other close friend while living in Paris was another artist of the day, Paul Gauguin. It was after an argument with Gauguin, that Van Gogh pursued him with a razor in hand. After realizing what he was trying to do, he ran home and cut off the lobe of one of his ears. He then gave it to a woman friend of his.
· Van Gogh never felt that his art was appreciated, which pained him very much. It wasn’t entirely true; many of his fellow painters saw him as a genius. He was a prolific painter and in the end, painted a painting a day. However, he only sold 1 painting in his lifetime.
· He eventually committed himself to a hospital to get help. Although never confirmed, it was rumored that he had anything from paint poisoning, manic depression to malnutrition. It was from this hospital that many of his paintings were painted, including Starry Night.
· Eventually, his depression overtook him. In 1869, he shot himself in the stomach and refused treatment. He died 2 days later in his brother’s arms.
· Afterwards, his brother died 6 months later. It was Theo’s wife that made sure that Vincent Van Gogh got the attention he deserved in his lifetime. His paintings are some of the most expensive in the world to buy.
Possible Questions:
· What are the colors that you see? Are they mostly cool colors or warm?
· What do the swirling lines remind you of? What do they represent?
· What is the dark image in the middle of the painting?
· When was it painted?
· Is Starry Night a good title?
· Would you want it in your room?
· How do you think Van Gogh felt when he painted it? What is he expressing?
Activity: Crayon Resist
Materials needed: white construction paper, yellow, orange, and white crayons, blue water color, paint brushes, newspapers, cups for paint, pencils, black construction paper, scissors, glue sticks.
*Please remind children to be very careful with water color IT WILL STAIN!!
Each table should be set up with a pile of crayons in the middle, a pencil and pair of scissors for each student, pieces of black foam and glue sticks. Have a separate table set up for painting.
1. Hand each student a white piece of paper and a pencil. Have them write their names and flip over the paper.
2. Each work table should have a pile of crayons in the middle. Have students draw swirling designs, lines, and circles, anything that shows lots of movement like Van Gogh’s painting. * Have children press hard with their crayons.
3. Once children have finished drawing have them cut out 1 object with the black foam to glue onto their picture.
4. Have a separate table set up with water colors only (this table should be supervised), allow a small group of students to go to the table one at a time and paint over their whole paper. Do not use too much water color or the picture will not dry. (Blot with paper towel if necessary).
Please wipe down the tables once you have finished the lesson. Thank you.
Art Masterpiece September 3rd grade - Vincent Van Gogh “Starry Night”
Today Art Masterpiece was presented in your child’s classroom. We discussed the artist Vincent van Gogh, who is well known for his post-impressionistic paintings, and we explored his work, Starry Night. We discussed the terms: color, movement, and mood. Your child used his/her creativity and imagination to produce his/her own masterpiece inspired by the painting. Please take the time to ask you child what he/she learned about Vincent van Gogh and the above mentioned terms.
Art Masterpiece September 3rd grade - Vincent Van Gogh “Starry Night”
Today Art Masterpiece was presented in your child’s classroom. We discussed the artist Vincent van Gogh, who is
well known for his post-impressionistic paintings, and we explored his work, Starry Night. We discussed the terms
color, movement, and mood. Your child used his/her creativity and imagination to produce his/her own masterpiece inspired by the painting. Please take the time to ask you child what he/she learned about Vincent van Gogh and the above mentioned terms.