Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Treasures at the Museum

Another great traveling exhibit is in our area for awhile, so we just had to get over there to see these treasures from abroad! 
Several impressionist paintings were on view, and as we have been studying Monet this term, we were eager to see if we could spot his works as well as previous artists we have studied.

Again, I asked the kids to keep their eye out for artists they know. (See our previous successful museum visit here)

In addition, we played a game. After viewing all the works in the exhibit hall, we gathered on one of the benches to tell each other of our favorite piece of the day. 
After each description, we went on a "treasure" hunt to try and spy the painting. 
This was fun for the family and also was good practice for capturing the image in our mind's eye and narrating to others who have not really seen the painting. 

Then we went to a separate room to relax and sketch these treasures.

Sir Henry Raeburn
Colonel Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell,
15th Chief of Glengarry
Georges Seurat
La Luzerne, Saint-Denis


Alice's rendition of Seurat's work:                                                                                                                                    Royal's sketch of Raeburn's painting:





Oh, and we also happened to see a couple of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot's paintings today, so I made sure to point those out to the kids as we will be studying him next!

Ville-d'Avray, Entrance to the Wood


The Stonecutters


As we left the paid exhibit, we wandered over to the permanent collection. 
We have visited this portion several times before; however, we noticed different works this time in addition to our usual favorites ... Another of Monet's train paintings (see this post about Alice's eye for Monet's trains), some beautiful Van Gogh's, and lo, an Antonio Canova! 
For those of you who have been through Year 1 (Term 2), do you remember Canova's tale in 50 Famous Stories
This was an unexpected gem as I noticed the artist's name under the sculpture. I snapped the picture, then today on our scheduled reading list was this very story. So Alice was drawn more intimately into the story as I read because she had actually seen one of his works yesterday! 

Ideal Head of a Woman


Wow. 
All I have to say is:

I {heart} Charlotte Mason!

6 comments :

  1. Wow is right! What an incredible connection! I had never even heard of Canova until reading 50 Famous Stories in Y1 to my oldest and have yet to come across one of his sculptures in real life. Very cool! And, as always, a very inspirational post. I hope to brave the art museum with my two boys soon and I will keep your approach in mind as we visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, the art museum is really so much fun now :-) ... especially after laying down some ground rules and giving direction *before* going in. I hope you have good results too!

      Delete
  2. Oh, sigh...a Seurat in person, so to speak! I miss having an art museum to visit...the closest we can come is a window display by a local gallery. I think we are going to have to take a trip before summer is out...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I do hope you get to visit a museum sometime soon too. Ours is actually about an hour away, but we feel so fortunate to be able to be even this close to such amazing art!

      Delete
  3. Ours is only an hour away but in terrible traffic with no parking--my husband and I used to go when we were sans children, but I have yet to take the kids. :/ Must remedy that. Thank you for sharing the kid-friendly museum activities! Their sketches are great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Celeste. The cons of your museum do sound like they would require a bit of planning and patience! After you decide to venture out with your kiddos in tow, however, I look forward to seeing all the treasures they bestow :-)

      Delete