Vincent Van Gogh and Impressionism

Many are familiar with Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings but few had ventured to paint in this Neo Impressionist style. Our Tri 2 exploratory art class met the challenge and successfully painted this method with acrylic paints. Impressionism is meant to be viewed from a far. It looks like a bunch of colors in random order when viewed close up. When you step back a few feet, all the layers of color begins to make sense. Many students had a hard time and were hesitant at first. Some students called it, a “sloppy” method of painting; similar reaction of art critics in Van Gogh’s time!

Students would use Study Wiz and connect to the links on their laptop. There they viewed many of Van Gogh’s paintings.
http://www.famousartistsgallery.com/gallery/vangogh.html
Click this link for a museum tour of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/gogh/html/realspace/room7a-room6.htm

Impressionism originated in France in the 19th century (1800’s). In this style, the artist paints light and shadow using his/her first “impression” of the day or night. Van Gogh developed his style when in Arles, France. His wet on wet technique (not waiting for paint to dry and mixing the color right on the canvas) was not accepted at first. Van Gogh struggled to sell his paintings and was temperamental which led to numerous emotional problems. However, his brother Theo nurtured Vincent’s creativity and even bought many of his paintings. He died in 1890 but his paintings lives on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh