Stories told by art and with art: Van Gogh

Next month is the month of the art in the school, we'll have a class about Van Gogh. Here's the lesson plan:

First, a story about Vincent.

Imagine a small village in Holland in 19th century. A big family of the local pastor. Strange, "difficult" oldest boy - Vincent. He loves nature and enjoys long walks around the village.

He grows up and goes to a boarding school, then another. He's really miserable there.

His uncle owns a famous art gallery shop with stores in the Hague, London, Paris. Both Vincent and his younger brother Theo work in the gallery stores. Vincent learns a lot about art, he also visits museums and art galleries. Vincent tries his hand in several different professions, but finally at the age of 27, decides to be a painter.

Next, stories about Vincent's art.

Vincent moves to the south of France. He loves the warm climate and enjoys painting outside, especially in spring and summertime. The paintings that we'll discuss in class are created there: Wheat Field, Almond Blossom and Sunflowers. (We'll also discuss Starry Night.)

Arles and south of France inspired Vincent to create exuberant art. Can you think of a place that inspired or profoundly affected you?

Here are some of the places that really inspired me:

1) Jerusalem. The wonder of seeing the Jerusalem from above from Armon Hanaziv lookout.

2) Tel Aviv beaches. After Jerusalem, I had hard time getting used to Tel Aviv's aesthetics... But every time I got tired of it, I went to the beach, and there it was - beauty all around me.

3) Hayarkon park in Tel Aviv. When I first moved nearby, I used to get from the office and watch sunsets over the river. I used to think: "I can't believe I'm so lucky as to live here and watch sunsets over the river every day."

We'll divide the class into four workgroups. Each group will discuss a painting and try to find a story that this painting is telling us.

Resources from the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam:

Who was Vincent Van Gogh? https://youtu.be/Zy3K2Lcw7hQ

Vincent Van Gogh - my story https://youtu.be/3q5fuVFWe0Q

"What are you good at?!"

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