LANDSCAPES

The Harvesters by Peter Bruegel and  Haying Time by Grandma Moses

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. (Frame 1/4 of the picture at a time) (Brueghel Picture).  Describe this picture.  What is the main idea?  What would you name this picture?

  2. (Uncover picture).  Now that you can see the whole picture, te11 me what is going on.  Where is the center of action?  What other activities are going on?

  3. (Ask for these items only if they haven’t mentioned them already).   Can you find a sleeping man. . . a hay wagon. . . birds. . . urn. . . ladder. . . pitch fork. . .children playing. . . body of water. . . boats. . . pear. . . steeple. . . etc.?

  4. Which objects are the closest? (foreground)  Which objects are the farthest away? (background)  What do you think you call the things in the middle?  (middle ground)  What has the artist done to make things appear close or far away? (size, detail)

  5. (Introduce Grandma Moses picture)  Name some object that are in both pictures. (Pictures with mountains, trees, sky, etc. that cover large areas are called Landscapes.  Both pictures are examples of landscapes).

  6. Look at the lines.  ­What are the lines doing?  Where are they taking us?

  7. What is the mood of the painting? (mood - feeling)  What do artists do to create these moods? (lines - curve and horizontal; colors - soft)

  8. Look at the different colors the artists used. What are the main colors Grandma Moses used? What are the main colors in the Bruegel picture?  Do the colors suggest a season?  Why?  What season do you think it is in each of these pictures?

  9. What would you like to be doing in either of these pictures?  (Take a hand count - which picture would you rather be?)

BIOGRAPHY

While Pieter Brueghel and Grandma Moses were both famous for painting landscapes, their lives were very different.  Grandma Hoses lived to be 101; Pieter Bruegel lived to be only 44.  Bruegel was born in Belgium over 300 years before Grandma Moses was born In the United States .  Bruegel began studying art as a child and took lessons for many years.  Grandma Moses never had an art lesson and did not start painting until she was 76 yrs old.

ACTIVITY

Bruegel and Grandma Hoses created many landscapes during different seasons of the year.  Today, we would like you to create a fall landscape.  We will give pieces of tissue paper which you will crumple up to create leaves.   You can then glue the “leaves" to your trunk (trunk can be found in the art closet or email Jennifer for copies sent home through school mail).  And since Grandma Moses created happy memories of her life in her paintings, we would like you to finish off your work of art by drawing in a happy memory of a fall day.