Teaching Packet

Process and Product: Painting

Part of Process and Product

Explore activities, ideas, and artworks to learn more about painting techniques- and get inspired to create! This unit features a video with a contemporary working artist who makes paintings, image galleries of paintings from the National Gallery's collection, an explainer that dives into the basics of painting, and a lesson for beginner experimentation with various painting techniques. This resource is intended for grades 6-12.

A man and two women standing near a bar nearly fill this vertical painting. Though made with oil on cardboard, the paint is applied in thin strokes, so parts of the painting look more like a drawing, and the tan of the cardboard is visible in many areas. Shown from the thighs up at the center of the composition, the man stands with his back to us, looking away from us to our left, almost in profile. The camel-brown of the cardboard acts as the color of his jacket and the skin of his face, which are otherwise delineated with cobalt-blue and violet-purple lines. He wears a dark bowler hat, and a white cigarette dangles in his lips. A few scribbled black lines could suggest a mustache. Hands thrust into his pockets, he looks down at the bar, which a runs along left edge of the composition. Squeezed between the man and the glasses on the bar, a woman wearing a teal-blue feather boa leans one elbow on the bar and looks back at the man from the corners of her eyes. Her skin is rose-pink and she has curly red hair. Her arched, thin eyebrows and snub nose are set in a round face with a double chin, and her crimson-red lips are pursed. She wears a ruby-red dress or coat and a turquoise-blue, wide-brimmed hat with bubblegum-pink ribbons or feathers. Two small, stemmed glasses sit on the bar in front of the man and woman. Behind the bar, along the left edge of the painting, a man wears a dark vest over a shirt with sky-blue sleeves. A light cloth lies over the shoulder closer to us and he has dark hair. The rest of his features are lost behind the woman’s hat. To our right, beyond the man’s shoulder, a woman stands with her body facing us as she tips back and looks off to our right. She wears a long, black tie over a pale blue, high-necked shirt. One hand is tucked into a pocket on the front of her jacket, which is streaked with mint green over the brown cardboard. Loosely painted vertical stripes below her waist suggests she wears a skirt, indicating this is a woman, though it might otherwise be difficult to tell. She wears a low, royal-blue cap with an emerald-green feather curling up from the back over a cloud of yellow hair. Only the gray bowler hat, ruddy skin around the ear, and a teal-green jacket of a fifth person are visible between that woman and the right edge of the composition. The wall at the back of the space is tan with shell-pink streaks, and a sign with a red triangle against a turquoise background is cropped by the right edge of the painting. The scene is sketchily painted so features are outlined with blue or brown and filled in with streaks of pale color. The artist inscribed the painting in the lower right corner, “pour Metenier d'apres son Alfred la Guigne HTLautrec,” with the HTL overlapping to create a monogram.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfred la Guigne, 1894, oil on cardboard, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.220

Grade Level

Subject

Language

Hear From An Artist About Her Work

In this video, artist Megan Lewis discusses her approach to painting and what subjects she likes to paint.

After you watch the video, discuss these questions.
 

  • From where does the artist draw her inspiration?
  • How does the artist incorporate her community into her work
  • What choices does the artist make as she paints?
  • What interests you about painting?

Paintings From the National Gallery of Art

In these groups of paintings, artists have depicted diverse subjects, both real and abstract, and have used different types of paint and various painting methods. Think about these questions as you look at each grouping.

  • How did the artist use scale, color, line, and shape?
  • Which materials were used to make a painting?
  • What preparation steps do you think the artist took before beginning to paint?
  • Where and how does the artist convey a sense of texture?
  • What feeling or story do you think each painting communicates? Why?
  • What surprises or inspires you about these paintings?

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) developed serious health problems at the age of 13. He turned to art as an engaging way to pass the time. Many of the workers and performers seen in his paintings of the dance halls, cafés, concerts, and circuses he frequented in Paris would not typically have been the subjects of works of art in the late nineteenth century. 
 

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) was an artist and art teacher who taught in the District of Columbia Public School System for 35 years. She painted in an abstract style and was often inspired by nature and music. Thomas experienced discrimination in the art world as an African American and a woman, but she and her colorful paintings were celebrated later in her life.

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), an Italian artist, developed a personal style of painting portraits of individuals with elongated bodies and narrow, neutral faces. He was greatly influenced by African art, specifically sculpture.

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A man and two women standing near a bar nearly fill this vertical painting. Though made with oil on cardboard, the paint is applied in thin strokes, so parts of the painting look more like a drawing, and the tan of the cardboard is visible in many areas. Shown from the thighs up at the center of the composition, the man stands with his back to us, looking away from us to our left, almost in profile. The camel-brown of the cardboard acts as the color of his jacket and the skin of his face, which are otherwise delineated with cobalt-blue and violet-purple lines. He wears a dark bowler hat, and a white cigarette dangles in his lips. A few scribbled black lines could suggest a mustache. Hands thrust into his pockets, he looks down at the bar, which a runs along left edge of the composition. Squeezed between the man and the glasses on the bar, a woman wearing a teal-blue feather boa leans one elbow on the bar and looks back at the man from the corners of her eyes. Her skin is rose-pink and she has curly red hair. Her arched, thin eyebrows and snub nose are set in a round face with a double chin, and her crimson-red lips are pursed. She wears a ruby-red dress or coat and a turquoise-blue, wide-brimmed hat with bubblegum-pink ribbons or feathers. Two small, stemmed glasses sit on the bar in front of the man and woman. Behind the bar, along the left edge of the painting, a man wears a dark vest over a shirt with sky-blue sleeves. A light cloth lies over the shoulder closer to us and he has dark hair. The rest of his features are lost behind the woman’s hat. To our right, beyond the man’s shoulder, a woman stands with her body facing us as she tips back and looks off to our right. She wears a long, black tie over a pale blue, high-necked shirt. One hand is tucked into a pocket on the front of her jacket, which is streaked with mint green over the brown cardboard. Loosely painted vertical stripes below her waist suggests she wears a skirt, indicating this is a woman, though it might otherwise be difficult to tell. She wears a low, royal-blue cap with an emerald-green feather curling up from the back over a cloud of yellow hair. Only the gray bowler hat, ruddy skin around the ear, and a teal-green jacket of a fifth person are visible between that woman and the right edge of the composition. The wall at the back of the space is tan with shell-pink streaks, and a sign with a red triangle against a turquoise background is cropped by the right edge of the painting. The scene is sketchily painted so features are outlined with blue or brown and filled in with streaks of pale color. The artist inscribed the painting in the lower right corner, “pour Metenier d'apres son Alfred la Guigne HTLautrec,” with the HTL overlapping to create a monogram.

Educational Resource:  Process and Product: Painting

Explore activities, ideas, and artworks to learn more about painting techniques- and get inspired to create! This unit features a video with a contemporary working artist who makes paintings, image galleries of paintings from the National Gallery's collection, an explainer that dives into the basics of painting, and a lesson for beginner experimentation with various painting techniques. This resource is intended for grades 6-12.