Kreeger Museum

Surrounded by Monet paintings, students learn how to use pencils and oil pastels to create a landscape.

The artist helps students as they practice shading.

A student studies a Monet landscape as he creates his own.

Pre-Trip Lesson: Students explore nature through art. Students learn about the different ways artists portray nature (as paradise, as dangerous, etc.) and about nature’s relationship with humans, particularly during the Industrial Revolution and periods of accelerated urbanization. Students also examine landscape paintings, focusing on elements such as foreground, middle ground, background, and color. Students learn about these elements by closely analyzing landscape paintings.

Trip: At the Kreeger Museum, students are given a guided tour where they can further discover nature through art. The tour highlights depictions of art from various cultures and in various forms, including sculptures and paintings. After the tour, students work with an artist to create their own landscape paintings!

Post-Trip Lesson: For the culminating activity, students write a story or script inspired by their landscape paintings. Students also test their knowledge of landscape paintings as they compete in a collaborative review game and take written assessments.

Academic Standards: Reading (5.W-I.1); Mathematics (5.M.4); Social Studies (5.2.4, 5.7.8); Visual Arts (5.2.7)