Introduction to

Paintings

By Cathy Chang
Jean-Franois Millet: The Gleaners
General Questions

When you look at the painting,

what do you see?
What is the focus of the painting?
Is the painting a positive
portrayal of the women or a
negative one?
Do you like the painting?
 Jean-Franois Millet
Millet was born the son of farmers in a small town in
Normandy. His father loved singing and carving, but
he gave these things up to meet the needs of his
family. As a child, Millet often helped his parents in
the field or read at home. He was especially
attracted to beautiful illustrations in the Bible and
tried copying them. He would also use a piece of
charcoal to draw farmers or horses in a small
notebook.

His father and townspeople noticed his talent. At the

age of twenty, with their support, Millet left for Paris
to fulfill his dream of studying art.

Millets art became highly valued after his death.

Though he left behind only about eighty paintings,
his style inspired many other great artists, such as
Monet and van Gogh. Today, the world remembers
Millet as a painter who devoted himself to showing
country life as noble and beautiful.
(Stevenson)
Vocabulary

Normandy
Carving
Field
Charcoal
Inspire
Devote ... ( )
Noble
Claude Monet: Impression, Sunrise
General Questions

What do you see in the

painting?
What time of day is the
painting?
What is unique about it?
 Claude Monet
Claude Monet also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude
Oscar Monet was a founder of French impressionist
painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of
the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions
before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape
painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of
his painting Impression, Sunrise.

Characteristics of Impressionist painting include visible brush

strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing
qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of
time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as
an important element of human perception and experience.

Monet was born in Paris, but moved with his family to

Normandy when he was just a child. His father wanted him
to go into the family grocery store business, but Claude
Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer.

Monet died of lung cancer when he was 86 years old. Monet

had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus about fifty
people attended the ceremony.
(Claude Monet)
Vocabulary
Consistent
Prolific
Practitioner ,
Movement ( , , )
Perception ;
Plein-air (in the open air)
Composition
Accentuate ;
Inclusion ;
Element ,
Grocery store
Occasion ,
Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night
General Questions

What do you seen in the

painting?
What kind of atmosphere
does the painting give
off?
 Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol
of expression, was born in Holland. The son of a
pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured
atmosphere, van Gogh was highly emotional and
lacked self-confidence.

The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned,

sharply lit. In Paris, van Gogh began to lighten his very
dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of
the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made
him a difficult companion and night-long discussions
combined with painting all day undermined his health.

During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van

Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three
years during which time he cut off part of his left ear
following a breakdown in his friendship with Paul
Gauguin. After this he suffered recurrent bouts of
mental illness, which led to his suicide.
(Van Gogh Gallery)
Vocabulary
Symbol , Sharply
Expression Palette
Pastor Temperament
Cultured ; ;
Companion
Atmosphere Undermined

Emotional ;
Breakdown ;

Self-confidence
Recurrent
Bouts
Somber-toned
Pablo Picasso: Guernica
Background to Guernica
Guernica is a monumental painting by Pablo
Picasso, depicting the Nazi German
bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-
eight bombers, on April 26, 1937 during the
Spanish Civil War. The attack killed
between 250 and 1,600 people, and many
more were injured.

Guernica presents a scene of death,

violence, brutality, suffering, and
helplessness without portraying their
immediate causes. The choice to paint in
black and white conveys the chronological
nearness of a newspaper photograph and
the lifelessness war affords.
(Guernica)
 Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1974) was a Spanish artist
whose name is almost synonymous with 20th
century art. No artist was ever as famous as
Picasso was in his own lifetime, or has been since.
The controversies over his personality, arrogance,
affairs with younger women, and unwillingness to
be classified in the art world only added to his
fame. Picasso was able to create incredibly
complex and powerful paintings with a few strokes
of the brush, or capture the essence of someone's
face from many different angles all at once. Most of
all Picasso was an individualist. He was a founder
of art movements, such as Cubism. Picasso was
incredibly proficient, especially near the end of his
life, when he would often complete three paintings
in one day. It was as if he believed he could delay
his death through painting. At the time many of
these works were dismissed. It wasn't until long
after Picasso's death that critics took a new look at
his later works and realized that Picasso had
invented neo-expressionism and was, as usual,
decades ahead of his time.
(Cooper)
Vocabulary
Monumental Arrogance ;
; Classified ,
Depict ;
Brutality , Complex ;

Immediate Essence ,
Causes ; Individualist
Chronological
Cubism
Afford , Proficient ,
Synonymous
Controversies Dismiss
Neo-expressionism

References
Claude Monet. Wikipedia. 2008. 30 June
2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Mon
et>.
Cooper, James. About Pablo Picasso.
artst.org. 10 July 2008.
<http://www.artst.org/picasso/bio/>.
Guernica. Wikipedia. 2008. 10 July 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_
%28painting%29>.
Stevenson, Sean. Jean-Franois Millet: A
Simple Heart. English 4U. 6 (2008): 12-
16.
Vincent van Gogh: Biography.
Vangoghgallery . 2008. 30 June 2008.
<http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bi
o.html>.