Fourth Grade
Edvard Munch, the scream, self-portraits
Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) - pronounced Moonk - was the greatest Norwegian painter to date. He was kind of a sad person who felt like he didn't fit in, and he turned to art as an outlet for his feelings (he even called his paintings his "children"). In fact he realized that the hard things that happened to him in life could all be inspiration for his art.
Munch was very good at portraying extreme emotions in painting, and he wanted to get a strong reaction from his viewers. His most famous work is "The Scream," which definitely evokes intense feelings.
The painting shows a man standing on a bridge with his hands to his face, screaming. The water and the sky swirl around him in vivid colors, and the tilt of the bridge is so severe that it no longer looks stable. The painting expresses feelings of fear, anxiety, and anguish. It is like the man is losing his mind. Notice how his body is so fluid and bendy and his head almost looks like a skull--the man has become less substantial because of his anxiety. What do you think he is afraid of? Why is the sky so red? Do you think it expresses a real fear, or something more symbolic? Munch talks about it being inspired by a real experience, with him actually crossing a bridge and being overcome by a feeling of dread, so that he stopped and couldn't continue. But I think it goes beyond just one personal experience to being relatable to anyone who has ever been afraid of anything, real or imagined.
Munch was very skilled at portraying emotions without words. Because of the aggressive way that Munch uses line and color in his art, he is considered a forerunner of Expressionism, a style that portrayed emotions through distorting form and color.
Fun Fact: Munch made four versions of "The Scream." One of them sold for over $119 million in 2012.
Munch was very good at portraying extreme emotions in painting, and he wanted to get a strong reaction from his viewers. His most famous work is "The Scream," which definitely evokes intense feelings.
The painting shows a man standing on a bridge with his hands to his face, screaming. The water and the sky swirl around him in vivid colors, and the tilt of the bridge is so severe that it no longer looks stable. The painting expresses feelings of fear, anxiety, and anguish. It is like the man is losing his mind. Notice how his body is so fluid and bendy and his head almost looks like a skull--the man has become less substantial because of his anxiety. What do you think he is afraid of? Why is the sky so red? Do you think it expresses a real fear, or something more symbolic? Munch talks about it being inspired by a real experience, with him actually crossing a bridge and being overcome by a feeling of dread, so that he stopped and couldn't continue. But I think it goes beyond just one personal experience to being relatable to anyone who has ever been afraid of anything, real or imagined.
Munch was very skilled at portraying emotions without words. Because of the aggressive way that Munch uses line and color in his art, he is considered a forerunner of Expressionism, a style that portrayed emotions through distorting form and color.
Fun Fact: Munch made four versions of "The Scream." One of them sold for over $119 million in 2012.
the Project
Prep – 45 min (includes time to make sample)
Print – Edvard Munch, The Scream
Materials
9 x 12 white construction paper for each student
Oil pastels for each student
Watered down tempera paint bottles in bright colors (look for labeled bottles in paint cupboard or find almost empty bottles and add water)
Straws cut in half for each student
Small paint palettes
Lesson
Print – Edvard Munch, The Scream
Materials
9 x 12 white construction paper for each student
Oil pastels for each student
Watered down tempera paint bottles in bright colors (look for labeled bottles in paint cupboard or find almost empty bottles and add water)
Straws cut in half for each student
Small paint palettes
Lesson
- Discuss and teach about Scream print. Ask students if they have seen this before and where they have seen it. The print has become very popular over the years and is found on greeting cards, t-shirts, posters, etc.
- Show students your art sample and ask them what they notice about the face you drew. Mouth is open like in screaming, eyes are looking down (tilted), and face looks tilted up. Mouth takes up most space and is focal point.
- Explain that you drew the head on the bottom part of the paper so you have plenty of room to make your hair. Also draw a neck and shoulders, coloring your shirt a solid color.
- Explain you did all drawing of face in pencil and then colored it in with oil pastel and traced around head with black oil pastel.
- Show students on a piece of paper how you blow the paint to make the hair.
- This can be tricky, you need to get a wet drop of paint with your straw and tap it onto the paper, tilt your straw at an angle with the bottom hitting the paper and blow in the direction you want the paint to go. You want to make sure the paint is heading away from the face.
- Explain that you want to work at it one drop of paint at a time. If you try to do more than one drop they dry up. One drop, blow paint, add another drop next to the one you just did, blow, etc.
Art Project
-pass out white paper to each student and have them put their name on the back
-remind them that they will use the paper vertically today to make room for their hair
-have students use their pencils to draw their faces, neck, and shoulders
-when students are done have them raise their hands to have oil pastels passed out to them by parents
-have students color in their face with oil pastels, making sure to color area around eyes white and outlining everything in black oil pastel when they are done
-have students raise their hands when they are done with oil pastels and parents can pass out a paint palette with various bright colors of paint and straws to each student
-students can share paint palette of paint
-when students are finished with project, have them throw away their straws and let paper dry on their desk
-have parents rinse out paint palettes and let dry on Art Room counter
*this would be a great project to save for Art Showcase in May
-pass out white paper to each student and have them put their name on the back
-remind them that they will use the paper vertically today to make room for their hair
-have students use their pencils to draw their faces, neck, and shoulders
-when students are done have them raise their hands to have oil pastels passed out to them by parents
-have students color in their face with oil pastels, making sure to color area around eyes white and outlining everything in black oil pastel when they are done
-have students raise their hands when they are done with oil pastels and parents can pass out a paint palette with various bright colors of paint and straws to each student
-students can share paint palette of paint
-when students are finished with project, have them throw away their straws and let paper dry on their desk
-have parents rinse out paint palettes and let dry on Art Room counter
*this would be a great project to save for Art Showcase in May
Citations :
- Edvard Munch, Despair, 1982. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/despair-1892
- Edvard Munch, Self-Portrait I, 1895-1896. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/self-portrait-i-1896
- Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/the-scream-1893
- Edvard Munch, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1906. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/friedrich-nietzsche-1906
- Edvard Munch, Melancholy, 1911. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/melancholy
- Edvard Munch, Spring Plowing, 1916. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/spring-plowing-1916