Author: jmcminn

Years 5
Term 1

Change for the Better?
Art and design - Van Gogh as a reformist Artist

In this unit the children will:
Compare how Van Gogh’s style changed over time
Explore his representations of nature and the links to his religious beliefs
Select and record from first hand observation, experience and imagination, and explore different ideas for different purposes
Explore the roles and purposes of artists, architects and designers working in different times and cultures
Compare ideas, methods and approaches in their own work and that of others’ work and say what they think and feel about them
Adapt their work according to their views and suggest how ideas can be developed further
Show an awareness of how paintings are created (composition)
Produce their own landscape, from the locality, painted in the style of Vincent Van Gogh

Key Vocabulary
Masterpiece : a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship
Reformist: to make better or improve by removal of faults
Revere: feel deep respect or admiration for (something)
Realism: the quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life
Expressionist: a style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express the inner world of emotion rather than external reality

Key Knowledge
Van Gogh was the son of a Dutch reformist minister.
His belief in God meant he revered nature as the one place he might experience God and so he used the real world as his artistic starting point.
He is an expressionist painter and his early training in art focused on realism.
He experimented with his art throughout his life drawing on techniques used by artists he admired.

Timeline of changing styles

Bulb Fields painted in 1883 . The man made buildings are sombre in comparison to the brightly coloured flower of nature—he is beginning his journey of nature as an inspiration

The Potato Eaters painted in 1885
This link tells you abut the significance and social aspects of the work considered to be his first masterpiece . You can see him beginning got use his characteristic loose brush strokes
https://www.vincentvangogh.org/potato-eaters.jsp

This self portrait is influenced by Seurat's pointillism - explore how the painting differs to the Potato Eaters in style
Painted in 1887

Starry Night painted in 1889
The swirls of the sky are less naturalistic and evocative of the spirituality he found in nature

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/van-gogh-vincent/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv8TANh8djI - child friendly