So, a big benefit to living in Europe?
We study Impressionist art…
We drove up to Frankfurt to the Städel Museum. It’s only about an hour away.
Along with some lovely Iconic art and some weird contemporary stuff, there was a lovely Impressionist gallery with Degas, Monet, Manet, Renoir, and some others.
We have been reading about how the Impressionists mimicked the new invention of photography – and the perspective in this Degas shows that style, with the viewpoint from the orchestra and cutting off some of the other ballerinas in this picture:
Here, I taught the girls about the perspective and showed them how Degas made this look like a snapshot, focusing on the foreground of the orchestra and making it look like the artist is in the orchestra pit, looking up at the ballerinas, who are too ethereal to be on ground-level, and are therefore on a grand stage.
We admired the brushstrokes and color of landscapes:
Fascinating white landscapes that were quite lovely and looked like photographs with amazing details:
A fun scene of two couples playing croquet. I love the blending of blues and greens contrasted with the light clothing. And the one lady in blue. Tori loved her.
A pretty Monet and we noticed the open windows of the house don’t reflect in the water. The sky is quite lovely and there are a couple figures in the distance by the trees.
We had studied Renoir pretty extensively and were ecstatic to find these. Did you know he was trained as a porcelain painter? Look at the china cups and carafes. Such skill!
Renoir was famous for painting flowers, and you can see the lovely colorful flowers in the hat and vase and book: 
Of course, we got yelled at and followed around by one of the guards. Apparently they have video cameras everywhere and he said we touched and he showed us we had to stay back at least an arm’s length. We certainly didn’t touch anything. We were pointing things out to the kids, you know, educating, and Tori pointed to a blank square in one of the altarpieces to ask why it was missing. We stayed behind the ropes. We are careful and respectful. It was very upsetting. The guard made me want to eat a sleeve of Saltines, but I didn’t want us to get thrown out.
Another guard was super sweet and she wanted to make sure we knew there was an outdoor exhibit and she got an English speaker to explain to us how to get there. The kids had a blast at the Städel.
Some of the main impressionist artists are Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and Edgar Degas.
Resources:
- We’ve also viewed art at the D’Orsay, Louvre, Netherlands, Dayton, and more
- How We Do Art
- Guide from The National Gallery
- Impressionism Guide from Khan Academy
- FREE Resources! Famous Impressionist Artists from Practical Pages
- Impressionism Lesson Plan from Art Class Curator
- Printables and Mini-Books for Art History – Impressionism from One Bright Crayon
- FREE Impressionism Lapbook from Homeschool Helper Online
- FREE Printable Impressionist Art Cards by Layers of Learning
- Impressionist Artists Famous Artists Degas Matisse Monet Renoir Van Gogh BUNDLE from Magic Spells for Teachers
- Life Beyond the Lesson Plan: Monet
- Kitchen Table Classroom: Monet
- Table Life Blog: Monet
- Peanut Butter Fish Lessons: Monet
- Monet Projects for Kids by Artsy Craftsy Mom
- Make a Monet by Kinder Art
- Artist Notebooking Page from Homeschool Helper Online
- Monet Notebook Page: Intimate Impressionism from Harmony Fine Arts
- Water Lily Pond Monet Art Lesson from Making Art Fun
- Renoir Art Project for Kids from Teach Beside Me
- Montessori Inspired Renoir Printables and Activities from Welcome to Mommyhood
- Mary Cassatt – A Charlotte Mason Picture Study by Art Curator for Kids
- Fun Mary Cassatt Art Projects for Kids by Happy Homeschool Nest
- Edgar Degas for Kids- Printable Resources and Books from Kitchen Table Classroom
We like to narrate and notebook with these pages:
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