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Extended Activities;  Van Gogh's Sunflower Drawings and Paintings

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Extended Activities;  Van Gogh's Sunflower Drawings and Paintings

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Adding to what we know and exploring some more.

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Unit of Instruction Assessment Documents

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Unit of Instruction Assessment Documents

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Final Assessment: Written portion

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Parent and Community Involvement: Van Gogh Go! Project Document

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Parent and Community Involvement: Van Gogh Go! Project Document

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The paper portion of the project with QR interactive option.

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Community and Parent Involvement:  Where can Van Gogh Go? 

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Community and Parent Involvement:  Where can Van Gogh Go? 

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Final activity near year's end, parents and community members are invited to help Van Gogh and our students explore the "world of Art" as we vacation! They are invited to share where Van Gogh goes with us!

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Additional Resources for Instruction:  Talking Points-Use as needed

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Additional Resources for Instruction:  Talking Points-Use as needed

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Use of these resources are depending on the conversations and questions that come up during exploration.

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Today, his paintings command eye-popping prices and hang in museums around the world, but when Vincent van Gogh died at age 37 on July 29, 1890, his work was largely unknown. Find out more about the Dutch-born painter, including what he did before becoming an artist, the unusual place where he painted some of his best-known works and why he might not have been responsible for cutting off his own ear.

He failed at multiple jobs before becoming an artist.

The son of a minister, van Gogh started working at age 16, when his uncle got him a job as a trainee with an art dealership in The Hague. He went on to do stints in the firm's London and Paris offices before he was fired in 1876. Afterward, he worked briefly as a schoolteacher in England then at a bookstore back in the Netherlands. In 1878, he went to the Borinage, a mining district in Belgium, and worked among the poor as a lay preacher. He gave away his belongings and slept on floors, but after less than a year on the job the religious organization sponsoring van Gogh decided he wasn't cut out to be a pastor and dismissed him. His next career choice, artist, would of course make him internationally famous, although not until after his death.

2. Van Gogh's art career was relatively brief.

When his attempt to become a preacher didn't work out, van Gogh, who'd sketched local miners and peasants while living in Belgium, decided in 1880 to focus on art. In 1881, the Dutchman, who was primarily a self-taught artist, returned home to the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to drawing and painting. His younger brother Theo, an art dealer, helped support him financially and emotionally. In 1886, van Gogh went to live with Theo in Paris, and his two years in the French capital proved pivotal. He was exposed to the work of Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist artists and started using a lighter, brighter palette and experimenting with brushstroke techniques. He spent his last two years in the south of France, where he produced a number of his best-known paintings. By the time of his death in 1890, van Gogh had started to garner critical acclaim. However, during his decade-long career he sold just a handful of the more than 850 paintings and nearly 1,300 works on paper he'd created.In 1990, a century after he painted it, Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold at auction for a record-breaking $82.5 million. The price, when adjusted for inflation, remains one of the highest ever paid for a painting.

Scholars have questioned whether he cut off his own ear.

In February 1888, after spending two years in Paris, van Gogh moved to the town of Arles in the south of France, where he hoped to form a community of artists. He invited the painter Paul Gauguin, whom he'd met in Paris, to come live with him. After Theo van Gogh essentially bribed Gauguin to become his brother's housemate, the French-born artist (whose work, like Vincent's, had yet to receive widespread acclaim) arrived in Arles in the fall of 1888. Van Gogh and Gauguin initially got along but eventually their relationship soured. On the night of December 23, 1888, the two men argued and Gauguin left their house. Van Gogh, armed with a razor, followed his fellow artist out onto the street; however, rather than attacking him, the Dutchman returned home, cut off part of his left ear, wrapped it in newspaper then gave it to a prostitute. This is the commonly held version of what happened; however, in 2009 two German academics published a book in which they made the case that Gauguin, a talented fencer, sliced off a portion of van Gogh's ear with a saber during a dispute. According to this theory, van Gogh, who didn't want to lose the friendship, agreed to cover up the truth about the incident in order to prevent Gauguin from going to jail.

He produced some of his most famous paintings while in a mental asylum.

In May 1889, van Gogh, who'd experienced episodes of poor mental health in the previous months, checked himself into Saint Paul de Mausole, a mental hospital located in a former monastery in the town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence in southern France. Although at the time the painter was diagnosed with epilepsy, researchers have since suggested a host of alternative diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, alcoholism and acute intermittent porphyria, a metabolic disorder. Whatever the cause of his medical troubles, van Gogh's treatment at Saint Paul consisted primarily of long baths. He stayed at the hospital for a year, during which time he painted scenes of its gardens as well as the surrounding countryside. The more than 100 paintings he produced during this period include some of his most celebrated works, such as "The Starry Night," which was acquired by New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1941, and "Irises," which was purchased by an Australian industrialist in 1987 for a then-record sum of $53.9 million. Since 1990, the painting has been owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum, which bought it for an undisclosed amount.

He never married or had children.

Van Gogh was unlucky in love. In the early 1880s, when he was starting out as an artist and living with his parents in the Netherlands, he fell in love with his widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker. Although she rejected him, he didn't give up easily, which led to tensions with his parents, who also weren't thrilled with his new choice of career. Next, he became involved with a woman named Sien Hoornik, a former prostitute who served as his model and also had young children. Van Gogh's family disapproved of Hoornik and the relationship eventually ended. Later, while still residing in the Netherlands, he had a relationship with an older neighbor, Margot Begemann, who attempted to kill herself because her family opposed the match. In Paris, van Gogh got involved with an artist's model and café owner named Agostina Segatori, but that romance fell apart as well.

There's been speculation his death wasn't a suicide.

The long-held theory about van Gogh's death is that on July 27, 1890, he shot himself in the abdomen while painting in a wheat field in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, then walked about a mile back to the inn where he was staying and passed away there two days later. However, in a 2011 biography of van Gogh, its respected co-authors offered an alternative theory: He was accidentally shot by a teenage boy who was known to have mocked van Gogh, but the lonely painter said his wound was self-inflicted because he felt the teen (who was possibly accompanied by a sibling) was helping him out by pulling the trigger, thereby putting an end to van Gogh's unhappiness and ensuring he was no longer a financial burden to Theo. The authors claimed their theory was supported by a variety of evidence, including the fact that the gun, along with the painting supplies van Gogh supposedly took with him to the wheat field, were never found. Additionally, if van Gogh had shot himself it would've been tough for someone in his condition to make it all the way from the wheat field back to the inn, according to the authors; they noted that a man reported hearing the gunshot coming not from the wheat field but from a location in Auvers, about half a mile from van Gogh's inn, a distance which would've been easier for the injured artist to navigate.

As with the conflicting theories about how van Gogh lost part of his ear, though, no one can prove definitively how he died.

Van Gogh's sister-in-law played a role in his posthumous fame.

In January 1891, six months after van Gogh's death, his brother Theo, who'd contracted syphilis, died at age 34 in the Netherlands. Theo's widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, inherited a large collection of Vincent's paintings, drawings and letters. She made it her mission to help promote van Gogh's work, in part by loaning it out for various exhibitions. Additionally, in 1914 she published a collection of letters written by van Gogh, in an effort to tell his life story. That same year, she had Theo's remains moved from the Netherlands and re-interred in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, where Vincent was buried.After Jo passed away, her only child with Theo, Vincent Willem van Gogh, inherited his uncle's artwork and eventually founded the Van Gogh Museum, which opened in Amsterdam in 1973.

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7 Things You May Not Know About Vincent Van Gogh

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Find out more about the Dutch-born painter, including what he did before becoming an artist, the unusual place where he painted some of his best-known works and why he might not have been responsible for cutting off his own ear.

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Resources for Instruction: Lesson References

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Resources for Instruction: Lesson References

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Researching what might work.

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Summary:

Students will learn about Vincent Van Gogh as they create a painting in his style.

About Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh (born 1853, died 1890) is probably one of the most well known and influential artists of the 19th century. The son of a Dutch pastor, the young Van Gogh worked for picture dealers along with his brother Theo. He also taught in two English schools and in his twenties, became a missionary in the coal mining district of the Barniage in Belgium, where he lived among the miners and shared their hardships.

During his life, Van Gogh lived in various locations including Brussels, The Hague, Antwerp and Drenthe and in his travels, taught himself to draw and paint, in addition to taking the occasional art lesson. He moved to Paris at age 33 to live with his brother Theo (who was working in a gallery), and it was there that he came into contact with the work of the Impressionists.

Where before his work was dark in color with heavy forms and subject matter depicting peasants at work in the fields, in Paris, Van Gogh's paintings began to take on a somewhat Impressionistic feel. Flowers, portraits, self portraits and images of Paris appeared in his work. He went to Arles (later joined by fellow artist Paul Gauguin) at the age of 35 and upon arriving painted landscapes and portraits full of vivid colors and passionate feelings. In the years following 1888, he spent time in an insane asylum and eventually - at the age of 37 - took his own life. It was during the months approaching his death that Van Gogh created some of the most vibrant, expressive paintings known to man. In all, he produced an enormous volume of work - much of which was left in the care of his brother Theo's son.

What You Need:

Van Gogh prints:

white painting paper

tempera or acrylic paints (or oil pastels)

brushes (large and small)

water containers

Pre Writing Chart (see end of lesson for details)

What You Do:

1. Start this lesson by looking at Starry Night.

2. Ask your students to describe the painting and its main ideas.

3. Focus on the wind. Ask your students how Van Gogh used brush strokes to make the wind (swirls etc.) Point out that the swirls are made with small brush strokes and many different shades of blue.

4. Then move to a demonstration of how to paint like Van Gogh.

5. On the top 2/3 of the paper paint swirly shapes. Emphasize allowing the paint to mix on the paper, Van Gogh did that.

6. End the sky by adding small brush strokes over the larger swirls. This gives the impression of many small strokes.

7. To close your lesson, ask the students to identify the same skills (small strokes, swirls, mixing colors) in one of the other prints.

8. On the second day of this lesson focus on the background of Starry Night. Have the children tell you what they see and then demonstrate how to paint like Van Gogh. I like to focus on the mountains and the town.

9. On the third day, I like to change my focus to the Irises. We finish this painting by describing how the irises are made and painting irises in the foreground of our paintings. The results are beautiful. This lesson is highly successful in elementary grades.

"Because Maryland has performance task testing, I like to extend this lesson to include an analysis and writing piece. I start by asking my students to fill out a form asking "How did I use Van Gogh 's skills to create my painting?" The chart lists three rows:

1. Van Gogh's skill

2. How I used the skill

3. Where I used the skill.

By completing the chart the children have created a prewriting guide to answer the question. (I like to call it the question of the day) Then I have my students write a paragraph or more about how they painted like Van Gogh. Parents love to see their children's writing displayed in the hallway with the finished painting.
Good Luck!"

- H. Bachman

You Will Love These:

Students will look at the work of Vincent Van Gogh, examining his style and the materials he used. The life and times of the artist will also be discussed. Then, children will create beautiful paintings or pastel drawings of sunflowers in a vase.
Visit Teachers Pay Teachers for this Lesson Plan Packet
Students will look at the work of Vincent Van Gogh, examining his style and the materials he used. The life and times of the artist will also be discussed. Then, children will create beautiful paintings of The Starry Night.
Visit Teachers Pay Teachers for this Lesson Plan Packet

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Van Gogh's Painting Style Lesson Plan: Painting for Kids - KinderArt

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Students will learn about Vincent Van Gogh as they create a painting in his style. Vincent Van Gogh (born 1853, died 1890) is probably one of the most well known and influential artists of the 19th century. The son of a Dutch pastor, the young Van Gogh worked for picture dealers along with his brother Theo.

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Extended Learning: Van Gogh's Sunflowers- Compare and Contrast - Students can manipulate the image...zooming in or out to explore techniques and details.

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Sunflowers - Vincent van Gogh - Google Arts & Culture

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Van Gogh produced in total five versions of bouquets of sunflowers in vases, all subtly different from each other. His Sunflowers are among his most famous...

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Prezi: Van Gogh's Starry Night with additional information and portrait for building connections.

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Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night About van Gogh: Born: March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands Died: July 29, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France by a self inflicted gunshot wound Before becoming a painter, his other jobs consisted of being an art dealer and missionary Post-impressionist painter Suffered from mental illness through

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IPAD App: Starry Night
This app lets students explore, edit, modify and recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night. Used to explore the lines and movement within the painting. Adds to student engagement and depth of understanding.

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Starry Night Interactive Animation on the App Store

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Starry Night Interactive Animation. Download Starry Night Interactive Animation and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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IPAD App: Musical Paint
Used to explore different types of lines and create landscape "Starry Night" paintings using technology. The sound component helps students further differentiate the types of lines. App increased engagement.

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Musical Paint. Download Musical Paint and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Interactive Resources for Unit of Instruction: 

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Interactive Resources for Unit of Instruction: 

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Interactive Resource 1: Google Art: Starry Night by Van Gogh.  Students can manipulate the painting via the smartboard to explore the details and brushstrokes within the art exemplar.

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Van Gogh's night sky is a field of roiling energy. Below the exploding stars, the village is a place of quiet order. Connecting earth and sky is the flamelike cypress, a tree traditionally associated with graveyards and mourning. But death was not ominous for van Gogh. "Looking at the stars always makes me dream," he said, "Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star."

The artist wrote of his experience to his brother Theo: "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." This morning star, or Venus, may be the large white star just left of center in The Starry Night. The hamlet, on the other hand, is invented, and the church spire evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands. The painting, like its daytime companion, The Olive Trees, is rooted in imagination and memory. Leaving behind the Impressionist doctrine of truth to nature in favor of restless feeling and intense color, as in this highly charged picture, van Gogh made his work a touchstone for all subsequent Expressionist painting.

The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 35

Find out more about The Starry Night at:
mo.ma/starrynight

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The Starry Night - Vincent van Gogh - Google Arts & Culture

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Van Gogh's night sky is a field of roiling energy. Below the exploding stars, the village is a place of quiet order. Connecting earth and sky is the flamelike cypress, a tree traditionally associated with graveyards and mourning. But death was not ominous for van Gogh.

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Getting to Know Van Gogh

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Art With Mati & Dada - VanGogh | Kids Animated Short Stories in English

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Subscribe to Art With Mati & Dada's here: http://goo.gl/rSZO5c Mati and Dada discovers how VanGogh was an excellent painter and learns about his famous paintings such as Cafe Terrance at Night and The Olive Trees.

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Video Resource 1: Jump into Van Gogh's Starry Night

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Jump into Van Gogh's Starry Night! Sparks kids' imaginations...