Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Van Gogh's Self-Portraits

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

5

Overview

Students will examine Vincent van Gogh's self-portraits and letters to better understand the artist’s life story and personality. Then, they will paint two Van Gogh-style self-portraits to show two parts of their own personality and write a letter describing the one that reveals their “true character” best. 

    Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Visual Arts

    AE17.VA.5.2

    Demonstrate the methods of the art-making process, including brainstorming, sketching, reflecting, and refining, to create a work of art/design.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:AE17.VA.5.2

    Vocabulary

    • Cultural context
    • Formal & conceptual vocabulary
    • Genre
    • Linear perspective
    • Preserve
    • Principles of design
      • Movement
      • Emphasis
    • Relief
    • Vanishing point

    Essential Questions

    EU: Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions in pursuit of creative artmaking goals.
    EQ: How does knowing the contexts, histories, and traditions of art forms help create works of art and design? Why do artists follow or break from established traditions? How do artists determine what resources and criteria are needed to formulate artistic investigations?

    Skills Examples

    • Use a variety of materials (wood, found objects, wire, paper, clay, etc.) to construct a three-dimensional work of art.
    • Have students keep journals to reflect on and combine ideas for their works of art.
    • Draw a still life of students' favorite objects, while adding color with a variety of media (paint, pastels, collage, etc.).
    • Draw an object or other images (landscapes, hallways, etc.) in linear one-point perspective.
    • Create tessellations in connection with interdisciplinary subjects such as mathematics.
    • Write a short story and illustrate the story with original drawings.
    • Draw and transform two-dimensional shapes into three-dimensional forms.
    • (squares to cubes, circles to spheres, triangles to pyramids and cones)
    • Write a personal artist statement to accompany an original work of art.
    • Draw a landscape including foreground, middle ground, and background.
    • Create an artwork integrating observational and technical skills to solve a problem or address contemporary social issues.
    • Create a bas-relief by carving into a clay slab.

    Anchor Standards

    Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Learning Activity

    Resource Provider

    Other

    Resource Provider other

    National Gallery of Art
    Accessibility
    License

    License Type

    CUSTOM
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