Son of Man - Like Magritte

You need:

1. white drawings sheets A3 size
2. white and blue tempera paint 
3. paper with stone print
4. white round paper
5. camera
6. bowler hat and black coat 
7. brushes
8. small dishes
9. sponges

René Magritte
Rene Magritte is born in 1898 in Belgium. When Magritte is 13 years old, his mother commits suicide. She jumps in the river Samber and is found with her dress covering her face. This image has been suggested as the source of several paintings from Magritte: people hiding their faces with several objects.
In 1924 Magritte became friends with members of a surrealism group in Brussels: André Breton, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. These artists influence Magritte's work. In the end Magritte became famous with surrealistic paintings.
Magritte gave his paintings a realistic effect of surrealism. He painted simple objects, like a shoe, an apple, a pipe or a tree. Magritte took these things out of their ordinary environment and placed them in a special surrounding.
One of Magritte's most famous works is "La Trahison des Images" (The Treachery of Images). This is a very realistic painting from a pipe, with the text: Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). The painting is not a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe. As Magritte himself commented: "The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe,' I'd have been lying!"
By putting us constantly on the wrong track, Magritte forces us to think about art. Magritte thought it the task of an artist to place reality in a different context.

Look at the artwork
Discuss the painting The son of man. What do you see? What does the man wear? What's on his head? Why can he see little? Can he see nothing of can he peek at the edge of the apple? What's wrong with his left arm? (his arm appears to bend backwards at the elbow). What do you see at the background? What does the sky look like?

How do you make this artwork?
Take photographs of the students wearing a bowler hat and a dark coat; arms hanging beside the body. Students paint their sheet blue and let it dry. Cut a wall out of stoneprint paper and stick it on the blue sky. Stamp white spots on the artwork using a sponge. Let dry againg. Cut the photo neatly along the edges and paste it on the blue sheet in front of the stoneprint paper. Draw a piece of fruit on the circle sheet and show color transitions, just like real fruit. Paste it on the face.

Both artworks are made by students of grade 1

The fall of Icarus - like Matisse

You need:

1. dark blue construction paper
2. black construction paper
3. leftovers of construction paper in several colors
4. scissors
5. glue

In this lesson students cut a performance out of paper just like Matisse did with his work: The fall of Icarus. 

Matisse (1969-1954) was a French sculptor and painter. He is seen as the founder of fauvism. In his last years of life Matisse wasn't able to paint anymore. A pair of scissors was the tool he used to transform painted papers (painted by assistants) into a world of plants, animals, shapes and figures. 

One of these cut-outs is the artwork Icarus (1947). 

Read the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. 

Then look at the original artwerk Icarus.
What do you see? At what time of day were  Daedalus and Icarus flying and how can you see that? (at night - dark blue paper, stars). What do you notice about the body of Icarus?  (limbs have different thicknesses) What can you deduce from that? (no drawing in advance but cut out of the hand) What could be the red dot? (heart)  How do you know Icarus is falling? (arms spread, head not straight on the body) Can you see that Icarus is falling into the see? (no) What else could he fall in?

Task
The real Icarus fell into the sea, but our Icarus falls into something else ... and you  decide for yourself into what! Trees? A city? On a church?
Cut a falling human out of black construction paper.  You're not allowed to make a drawing in advance, just cut 'out of the hand'. If the first time fails, you take a new black sheet. Cut some stars. Cut a surface: in what is Icarus falling?  Place the loose parts on a blue sheet and stick all of them.

All artworks made by students of grade 3. 

Transport - like Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) was an Austrian artist and architect who is best known for the colorful buildings he designed, built with attention to the environment and nature. The buildings of Hundertwasser are very recognizable: straight lines are missing, there is use of bright colors and many of his buildings have typical turrets. The influence of architect Gaudi is obvious.

The paintings of Hundertwasser have exuberant colours too and mainly undulating lines.

Show buildings of Hundertwasser on the digital board. Discuss the salient  features: bright colours, undulating lines. Then show some paintings and discuss the things that stand out:

• the use of small areas outlined with black

• no straight lines, usually parallel lines
• recurring spiral shapes
• bright colours

Tell students they are going to draw means of transport in the style of Hundertwasser. 

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. pencil
3. markers

Draw a car, plane, boat or something you think is a mean of transport. Fill it with lines and patterns like Hundertwasser did. Cut your drawing and paste all means of transport on a great colored sheet. 

Source: Dutch website Laat maar zien. 

Op art - like Henrique Matos

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. liquid water colour
3. jar with water
4. compasses
5. ruler
6. pencil
7. black waterproof markers

Henrique José Teixeira Matos is a Portugese painter. He is born in 1961 in Oporto.  Matos painted landscapes, portraits and abstract works, but is best known for his op-art work.
Show pictures of Matos's work on Wikimedia Commons. Look especially the op-art works and discuss what you see.

More op-art lessons on this blog can be seen following the link Op-art.

Paint a white sheet of paper with liquid watercolour and a lot of water a plain background.

Drip some liquid water colour on the surface while it is still wet. Use more water if the colours won't flow. Leave the sheet to dry.

Use compasses to draw some small circles (2 cm average) on the sheet. Draw wider circkels around them. Fill the sheet with those circles and half ones near the edges.

Draw lines from the middle of the circles to the edges. Be sure it's an even number of lines and  Kkeep the lines as much as possible equidistant from each other. Color the squares alternating with a black marker or pencil.

Op art hands

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. markers 

Draw a grid on the sheet with squares from 2 cm by 2cm. Draw your hand or an object with a pencil. Color this alternately with black an a color of your choice.  Color the background squares with the same colors, but so that the checkerboard pattern reverses.

Where Keith Haring meets Piet Mondriaan

You need:

1. drawing sheet A2 size
2. black strips 1,5 cm wide
3. colored construction paper in red, yellow and blue
4. ruler
5. scissors
6. glue
7. black marker

This is a teamwork lesson for two students. 

Draw squares and rectangles of various sizes on the colored paper. Make sure they are straight: start from a right angle and measure carefully. Cut the squares and rectangles and spread them on the white sheet.  Make sure same colors do not touch each other and stick them. 

Continue with the black strips. Decide by yourself how many strips and where you want them, but there are four requirements:

• the strips must be sticked straight! (use your ruler)
• black strips must be sticked around all colored area's
• use the black strips to create white area's (squares and rectangles) 
• don't use to much glue. Let some strips stay loose so you can put a Haring figure behind it

Draw three or more Keith Haring  characters on the colored paper. Cut them and paste them on the Mondriaan sheet. Be sure there is no yellow character on a yellow area. 

Outline the characters with a black marker and draw some 'move stripes' around them.

Picture book illustration

Students of grade 6 made this illustration. After a good study of the original illustration in a Dutch picturebook, they made a list of required materials to use for this artwork. The faces and arms are painted, the clothes and curtains are cut out of fabric, the wallpaper comes from a sample book for wallpaper and the flags are from scraps of paper.