Pumpkins like Yayoi Kusama

What do you need?

• black construction paper
• colored paper
• black marker 
• black fineliner
• scissors and glue
• white pencil

About the artist
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026) creates paintings, sculptures and large installations with mirrors and lots of light, symbolizing infinity. All her artworks have one thing in common: polka dots. That's why she's affectionately known as 'the princess of polka dots'. 

From an early age Kusama wanted to make art, but her traditional Japanese parents didn't like this. That's why Kusama left for NewYork and joined artists there, including Andy Warhol. 

By adding all-over marks and dots to her paintings, drawings, objects and clothes she feels as if she is making them (and herself) melt into, and become part of, the bigger universe. She said:

‘Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environment’.

View and discuss artwork of Kusama. 

• use of large and small polka dots 
• backgrounds are often filled with triangles
• use of bright colors
• her installations suggest infinity

What to do?

1. Draw three pumpkins on the colored sheets and cut them.
2. Draw bigger and smaller dots on the segments using black markers.
3. Draw triangles on the black sheet with a white pencil - start with a zigzag line.
4. Paste the pumpkins on the black sheet.

Works of art are made by students of grade 4. 

Vincent, living to paint

In the series of art picture books by publishing house Leopold, there is now the beautiful book 'Vincent, living to paint', written and illustrated by Janneke Ipenburg. A must-have for schools!

Content
Since childhood, Vincent has loved drawing. However, he is rejected by the art academy and goes to work as a preacher in Belgium. There, his passion for drawing starts to itch again. He sketches the miners with their gray, weathered faces. But he becomes ill and depressed, and returns home. Despite his mental fragility, he continues to draw and paint fanatically..

When his father passes away, Vincent moves to his brother Theo, who is an art dealer in Paris. Here, he comes into contact with modern artists like Gauguin and Seurat. The somber drawing style from his time with the miners and The Potato Eaters changes from brown brushstrokes into loose dots and dashes in bright colors.

Vincent travels to Arles in the south and continues to paint tirelessly. Portraits, sunflowers, landscapes. Unfortunately, he barely sells anything, drinks too much, and becomes confused again. He is admitted to a clinic, and even there, he continues to paint. But Vincent feels that he is getting sicker and sicker. He returns to Theo and rents a room near Paris. In 1890, he takes his own life.

'Vincent, living to paint' is the result of a collaboration between author/illustrator Janneke Ipenburg, publishing house Leopold, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, which will host a major Van Gogh exhibition starting September 15th 2026.

Review
There are already so many (children's) books about Van Gogh that I couldn't imagine 'Vincent, living to paint' would actually add anything new. But the opposite is true. What a fantastic book! In rich, evocative  language, Ipenburg takes the reader on a journey through the painter's life. In doing so, she does not shy away from his mental health issues and brings Vincent to life without making it feel too heavy. A nice bonus is the extra explanation at the bottom of each page.

Full-page illustrations bring the text to life, looking as if they were made by Van Gogh himself. This way, we see The Potato Eaters, The Café Terrace at Night in Arles, and of course, Starry Night. "We can only speak through our paintings," Vincent writes just before his death in 1890.

In the Classroom
'Vincent, living to paint' is a wonderful book to use in your art lessons. Who was Vincent? What was his life like? What did he paint? Which colors did he use? How can you recognize his later paintings?

Algemene gegevens: 

• Publishing House: Leopold
• ISBN: 9789025890360 
  
• Number of pages: 40
• Published: July 2026
• Reading age: 8+ ; read-aloud age: 6+ 

Use my lessons about Vincent van Gogh on this blog: painting, printing and mixed media.  

Stormy winter night (water resist) 

Vincent van Gogh's chair (printing) 

Van Gogh's bedroom (printing) 

Starry night (mixed media) 

Starry night (painting)