Vincent Van Gogh

We have begun studying a new artist.  The students are learning a bit about Vincent van Gogh's short life growing up in Holland.  The students learned that he was a pastor early on until he realized he wanted to become a painter.  They were fascinated to see the differences between his early work that was primarily composed of dark colors and some of his later pieces that included vibrant colors.  They were also taken back by the fact that art became more important to him than the basic need to eat and were surprised to hear that he would rather buy art materials than food.  They were very confused as they thought he should have been making a lot of money because he created such great artwork, but they found out that only 1 painting sold while he was alive.  We will be looking closely at, "The Starry Night" and doing a replication of this piece. 

Students are making many observations about, "Starry Night."  Today, we looked closely at the exploding bright sky, the curvy lines of mountains, the little houses and lights in the town, and the shape of cypress tree.  Students noticed the painting is filled with movement and will reenact with their bodies  the movement of the stars and the cypress tree.  Next week, after practicing our brush strokes, we'll recreate Van Gogh's famous painting.  Check out how this cute little video your child will see to help them learn how to perfect the moon! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw7XYhrhRqg