Concept: Landscape grade: Fifth lesson

MASTERPIECE: Peach Blossom in the Crau (1889)
ARTIST: Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
CONCEPT: Landscape
GRADE: Fifth
LESSON: Impressionism
Objectives: Students will create a painting of a landscape using Van Gogh’s

style of painting

Vocabulary: Horizon, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Perspective, Mood
Materials: 12 X 18 construction paper

Tempera paints

Brushes

Bowls
About the Artist:

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland. At sixteen, he was apprenticed to a Paris art dealer, and he started visiting the many art museums there. His interest in art grew and he began making sketches.

Van Gogh’s younger brother, Theo, was one of the most important influences in his life. If not for Theo, Vincent might never have succeeded as a painter. Theo sent him money for food, paint and canvas, and tried unsuccessfully to sell Van Gogh’s paintings. Theo’s many letters to Van Gogh provided emotional support and encouragement.

Van Gogh was one of the Post-Impressionist artists. His productive period lasted only about ten years, from the time he started drawing lessons to his last painting. Through all the hardships Van Gogh suffered – including poverty, mental illness and rejection by the art world – he continued to make sketches. In 1881, he started to paint with watercolor and oil paints. Van Gogh’s style was influenced by the art movements around him and by 17^th-century Dutch landscapes.

Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime: Red Vineyard at Arles sold for 400 francs ($256) the year before he died. Currently 7 of his original works have been sold over the last 20 years for a total of more than $700 million.

Life Summary:

About the Artist: Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853 in a small village in Holland. From the age of 16 he worked as a salesperson in art galleries in The Hague and London and for an art dealer in Paris. For a time, he served as a missionary in England and Holland, but he eventually was expelled from the mission and lived as a tramp, starving and penniless. He studied art under his cousin, and he began to paint gloomy scenes of thatched huts, peasants and workers. He later lightened his palette after studying Japanese prints. In 1886 he moved in with his brother Theo who was his source of financial and emotional support. He began painting prolifically in his own style characterized by lively brushstrokes and bright, clashing colors. During this time he was suffering from depression and had hallucinations. On one occasion, he cut off his ear lobe. In 1890, he shot himself and died two days later at age 37.
Looking at the Art:

In any artwork, the choice and arrangement of the art elements can create a mood. What is the mood of this painting and which elements help to set it? (A Sense of harmony, stability and calmness is created by the long, unbroken horizontal lines of the hills, and the even lines of the fences in the foreground and middle ground. The blues are cool; not cold and harmonize with the warm yellow ochres. There is a mixture of neutral colors. The colors are quiet and complementary, adding to the feeling of peace.)

The Impressionists used short brush strokes and dabs of color, and a representative type of line: short and wide. Do you see any patterns created by lines?

The composition is wide-open and uncrowded. The houses and trees and the solitary figure are very small, as are the hills in the distance. The sky is large, open and uncluttered. The smallness of the objects makes the land around seem larger.

Process: 1. Review the “About the Artist” and “Looking at the Art”

sections of the lesson materials, emphasizing the vocabulary words.

2. 
   Distribute materials. Explain that each student will
   

create a landscape painting using Van Gogh’s style of straight brushstrokes and perspective. Have them decide on the mood and color scheme of their landscape.

2. 
   Have them first draw a light line on the paper to represent the horizon, then lightly sketch in the remainder of the landscape and paint the landscape in a style that will support the mood.
   
3. 
   If there is time, display the paintings and have students guess the mood or motion the artist was depicting.
   

VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS:
Horizon: A level line where water or land seems to end and the sky begins. It is usually on the eye level of the observer. If the horizon cannot be seen, its placement must be imagined.
Impressionism: A style of painting among French artists in the 1870’s that depicted the natural appearances of objects by means of dabs or strokes of primary unmixed colors in order to simulate actual reflected light.
Post-Impressionism: A style of painting among French artists in the late 1800’s that places a greater emphasis on structure and form and rejecting the naturalism of the Impressionists.
Perspective: Techniques for creating the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
Mood: The feeling or emotion created by a work of art.
5^th Grade Art Masterpiece-Van Gogh’s Peach Blossom in the Crau (1889)

Today your 5^th Grader studied Vincent Van Gogh’s post-impressionism style of painting and created an art project using Van Gogh’s techniques. Van Gogh painted this landscape during his Arles period, when he used the Japanese style of making people and objects appear small in composing his landscapes. The horizon line is just above the middle of the painting. The blooming trees symbolize his optimism, wishes and desires. He used the Impressionist style in applying the paint in dabbing brushstrokes of thick paint.

5^th Grade Art Masterpiece-Van Gogh’s Peach Blossom in the Crau (1889)

Today your 5^th Grader studied Vincent Van Gogh’s post-impressionism style of painting and created an art project using Van Gogh’s techniques. Van Gogh painted this landscape during his Arles period, when he used the Japanese style of making people and objects appear small in composing his landscapes. The horizon line is just above the middle of the painting. The blooming trees symbolize his optimism, wishes and desires. He used the Impressionist style in applying the paint in dabbing brushstrokes of thick paint.

5^th Grade Art Masterpiece-Van Gogh’s Peach Blossom in the Crau (1889)

Today your 5^th Grader studied Vincent Van Gogh’s post-impressionism style of painting and created an art project using Van Gogh’s techniques. Van Gogh painted this landscape during his Arles period, when he used the Japanese style of making people and objects appear small in composing his landscapes. The horizon line is just above the middle of the painting. The blooming trees symbolize his optimism, wishes and desires. He used the Impressionist style in applying the paint in dabbing brushstrokes of thick paint.