LESSON
8
Claude Monet
Impressionism
Verbal Directions
CLAUDE MONET/IMPRESSIONISM
KIMBALL ART CENTER & PARK CITY ED. FOUNDATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was an important leader in the impressionist
movement, a groundbreaking style that used short broken brushstroke
and unblended color to capture light instead of realism. Students will
create their own impressionist art with torn bits of colored tape coming
together to reveal a landscape or flowers.
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
• Learn about Claude Monet and the Impressionsits.
• Learn about color theory as it relates to the style of the impressionist.
• Learn about dierent painting styles.
• Create a collage in the impressionist style.
CLAUDE MONET
SUPPLIES
• Images of artwork by Monet.
• Samples of Impressionist
tape paintings.
• Bristol or cardstock paper.
• Glue.
• Tape of dierent colors.
• Scissors.
• Pencils.
• Examples of simultaneous
contrast and color theory.
LESSON
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a French painter most famously known for his important role as a leader of the
impressionist movement. After an art exhibition in 1874, a critic called Monet’s painting style “Impression,” since
it was more interested in form and light than realism, and the term stuck. Monet’s often painted the French
countryside at dierent times of day capturing the colors and the light. Monet built a house for himself in
Giverny, which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known paintings.
LESSON PLAN
1. Introduce Impressionism and the work and life of Claude Monet. Contrast the work of the Impressionist with
earlier landscape painting. Claude Monet and his contemporaries experimented with a new painting style
that was not acceptable as art at the time. He and his friends at first were rejected from many art shows and
galleries.
• Who decides what goes in a museum?
• Who decides what is ‘good’ art?
Impressionist used quick short brushstrokes of pure unblended color to capture the light in the landscape
instead of details and realism.
•(compare with a pre-impressionist painting)How are these two painting styles dierent?
• Which paintings have the biggest range in value?
• Look at the shadow colors in the impressionist paintings, what do you see?
• Why do you think the impressionist chose to paint that way?
• How do you like to paint?
2. Discuss color theory and how it applies to the Impressionists paintings. Claude Monet used cool colors for the
shadows and warm colors to show light. Often these colors were close in value. Our eyes perceive cool colors
to go back in space and warm colors to come forward. Show examples of this concept by holding a blue paper
next to a yellow paper. Using this principle the Impressionist created the illusion of three dimentional form.
3. Claude Monet was also interested in how our ‘eyes’ blend colors that are right next to each other. A stroke of
blue and a stroke of red can be seen as violet. On a scrap piece of paper, have students experiment with making
marks next to one another in blue and red. Talk about which colors students might need to make green, or
brown, or orange.
4. Students will now create their own impressionist painting by using colored tape pieces. Use images of
landscapes, or flowers to begin the artwork. Students first sketch out the landscape in pencil and then fill it with
small tape pieces of dierent colors. Encourage students to think like the impressionist to build the image.
5. When the artwork is completed, reflect on the process of the impressionist and how they discovered a new
way of representing their surroundings.
CLAUDE MONET/IMPRESSIONISM
KIMBALL ART CENTER & PARK CITY ED. FOUNDATION
LESSON
KEY IDEAS THAT CONNECT TO VISUAL ARTS CORE CURRICULUM:
Based on Utah State Visual Arts Core Curriculum Requirements
(5th Grade).
CLAUDE MONET/IMPRESSIONISM
KIMBALL ART CENTER & PARK CITY ED. FOUNDATION
LESSON
Standard 5.V.C.2:
Experiment with and develop skills
in multiple art-making techniques
and approaches through practice.
Standard 5.V.CO.1:
Apply formal and conceptual
vocabularies of art and design to
view surroundings in new ways
through art-making.
Standard 5.V.P.1:
Define the roles and responsibilities
of a curator, and explain the
skills and knowledge needed
in preserving, maintaining, and
presenting objects, artifacts, and
artwork.
Brought to you by: A special thanks to our sponsors:
STUDIO HABITS OF THE MIND:
Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the
art world and/or of personal importance, to develop
focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Click on links to learn more.
• http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/
curricula/impressionism/lesson01.html
• https://www.cmonetgallery.com/lesson-plans.aspx
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Monet
• http://www.impressionism.org/teachimpress/browse/aboutimpress.htm
• https://www.claude-monet.com/
• http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory_1.htm
FREE LUNCH
FOUNDATION