Artists inspired by weather and seasons

info

This ressource has been created during Erasmus+ project Head in the clouds.Pupils from 8 schools around Europe chose a famous painter from their country inspired by weather.They introduced this painter and some of his works to other schools.Then they studied eachothers painters. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Claude MonetFrance1840 - 1926

Biography

Claude Monet was born on November 15, 1840 in Paris, but his family moved to the port city of Le Havre, France while he was still young. He loved to draw as a child. Around the age of eleven, Claude entered a school for the arts. A few years after his mother died in 1857, Claude moved to Paris. He painted a lot of outdoor scenes. His paintings were becoming accepted by the art critics in Paris. He then decided to take on large project he called Women in the Garden. This was a huge painting, over eight feet tall, that he painted outside in the natural light. It was a normal everyday scene. He spent a lot of time on it, but the critics did not like it. He became depressed and was also out of money. War broke out in France in 1870 and Claude moved with his new wife, Camille, to London. There he met art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel who would become one of his strongest supporters. At this time Monet began to study the relation of the city of London to the River Thames. Monet became friends with several of the leading artists of the time including Pierre Renoir, Edouard Manet, and Camille Pissarro. Together they formed the Society of Anonymous Painters, Sculptors, and Printers. They wanted to experiment with art and not do the same classical art that satisfied the art critics of Paris. They organized an exhibition of their art in 1874. One critic called it the Exhibition of the Impressionists. The term "impressionist" was used to imply that the art was just an impression of something and not completed. It was meant as an insult. The critic got the word "impression" from one of Monet's works. It is called Impression: Sunrise. This painting was a great example of the new style. The lighting gives the viewer the feeling or "impression" that the sun is just rising. Monet's use of light was unique. Despite the critics of Impressionism, Monet continued to refine his work. He continued to try and capture the changing effects of color with light. He used a wide range of vibrant colors and painted quickly using short brushstrokes. Soon, Monet's work began to gain recognition. His paintings started to sell. He even organized an Impressionist art exhibition in the United States in 1886. In order to continue his experiments with light, Monet began to paint series of the same scenes. He would paint them at different times of the day and in different types of weather. He painted a series on haystacks, the Rouen Cathedral, and the London Parliament. Near the end of his life, Monet embarked on his largest project. It was a series on the pond at his home in Giverny. It involved a number of huge paintings of the pond in different lighting and conditions such as morning, sunset, and clouds. He called it the Grandes Decorations. When finished, all the panels together were over 6 feet tall and nearly 300 feet long. During much of the project the aging Monet was suffering from bad eyesight and lung cancer. He spent the last ten years of his life on the project and donated it to France in honor of the end of World War I. He died on 5th December 1926 in Giverny.

by Slovenian pupils...

by Portuguese pupils...

Ivana Kobilca Slovenia 1861–1926

Biography

Ivana Kobilca was born in Ljubljana as a daughter in a wealthy family of a crafstman. Her parents gave great emphasis on education. At first, she learned how to draw, but also French and Italian, in the Ursuline High School in her home town, where her teacher of drawing was Ida Künl. When she was 16, she went with her father to Vienna, where she saw the paintings of old masters that inspired her. From 1879 to 1880, she studied in Vienna, where she copied the paintings at the gallery of the Academy of Arts, and from 1880 to 1881 in Munich. From 1882 to 1889, she continued her studies under Alois Erdtelt. In 1888, she participated for the first time in a public exhibition. At the following exhibition in Munich, her work was spotted and praised by the prominent German art historian Richard Muther. and then returned to Ljubljana. In 1890, she painted in Zagreb. In 1891 and 1892, she painted in Paris in the private school of Henri Gervex. She became an honorary member (membre associée) of Société Nationale des Beaux Arts. In 1892, she also painted in Barbizon. In 1893, she returned to Ljubljana, visited Florence in 1894, and lived in Sarajevo from 1897 to 1905. From 1906 to 1914, she lived in Berlin, and then returned to Ljubljana. At the time of her death in 1926 in Ljubljana, she was described as the greatest Yugoslav female painter. Kobilca is considered to be the most successful Slovenian woman artist. As her contemporaries already acknowledged, she succeeded in achieving things that her male colleagues were not able to. She exhibited in the respectable Salon in Paris for several times and became a membre associée of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She spent most of her creative period in European capitals (Vienna, Munich, Paris, Sarajevo, Berlin) and returned to Ljubljana only at the outset of the Great War. After the Munich phase, in which murky brownish tones prevailed in her colouring, she painted in violet, blue and green tones in Paris, later, during her sojourn in Berlin, also in white ones. Her oeuvre is marked by portrayals of her family members and children, portraits of members of middle-class society, mainly of Ljubljana, genre scenes and especially flowers.

by French pupils...

by Greek pupils...

Pablo PicassoSpain1881 - 1973

Biography

Pablo Picasso and the "Cubismo" own style Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain. When he was baptized, he was named after various saints and relatives: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. His father, Jose Ruiz Blasco, was an artist and art professor who gave Pablo art lessons. His mother was Maria Picasso y Lopez. According to his mother, his first word was “piz” when he was trying to say “lápiz,” the Spanish word for pencil. Picasso was not a good student. He often had to go to detention. Here’s what he said about it.“For being a bad student I was banished to the ‘calaboose’ – a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I took along a sketch pad and drew incessantly … I could have stayed there forever drawing without stopping.” When he was nine, Picasso finished his first painting, Le picador. It shows a man on a horse at a bullfight. When he started painting, he used a realistic style. He began to experiment with different techniques and styles. When he was 13, he was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, Spain. When he was 16, Picasso’s father and uncle decided to send him to Madrid’s Royal Academy of San Fernando. This was Spain’s top art school. He did not like formal instruction and soon stopped going to classes. He loved Madrid and enjoyed going to The Prado museum to see paintings by famous Spanish painters. He particularly like El Greco’s work. In 1900, Picasso went to Paris. He met Max Jacob, a journalist and poet. Max helped Picasso learn to speak French. He also met many of the famous artists who lived in Paris. In 1905, American art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein began to collect his work and helped to make him famous. He and Georges Braque invented Cubism, a form of painting that featured simple geometric shapes. He is also known for making collages – gluing previously unrelated things together with images. He created oil paintings, sculpture, drawings, stage designs, tapestries, rugs, etchings, collage, and architecture. No other painter or sculptor was as famous while he was still alive. It is estimated that Picasso produced at least 50,000 works of art: 1,885 paintings; 1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. He also wrote plays and poetry. He became very wealthy. Some of his famous paintings include: The Old Guitarist; Asleep and Seated Woman, which portray Marie-Therese Walter, one of the women he loved; Guernica, a mural about the Spanish Civil War; and Three Musicians. Picasso loved many women. He married two of them, Olga Khokhlova and Jacqueline Roque. He had four children: Paulo, Maya, Claude and Paloma, who is famous for her jewelry designs. He died April 8, 1973 in Mougins, France. Picasso quotes: “I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. ” “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ” “He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law". “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

by Slovenian pupils...

by Portuguese pupils...

by French pupils...

Vilhelms PurvītisLatvia 1872 - 1945

Biography

Born 3 March 1872 Died 14 January 1945 (aged 72) Nationality Latvian Known for Painting Movement Impressionism He was a landscape painter and educator who founded the Latvian Academy of Art and was its rector from 1919 to 1934. Vilhems Purvītis was born in Livonian Governorate, Zaube parish in a family of a miller. He studied in a local parish school until his family moved to Vitebsk Governorate. Until 1888 Purvītis studied in a municipal school in Drissa (Today: Belarus). It was here where his drawing skills were noticed for the first time. When his family returned to Vidzeme. Purvītis worked in his father’s mill in Smiltene parish for a two years. In 1890 Purvītis started studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia from 1890 to 1897, primarily under Arkhip Kuindzhi, graduating with the Grand Gold Medal. While in academy he studied paintings of old Dutch masters and became close friend with two other Latvian painters- Janis Rozentāls and Johan Valter. In 1898 he together with Janis Rozentāls and Johan Valter took a study trip across Europe and his paintings were exhibited in Berlin, Munich, Paris, and Lyon to great acclaim. In 1899 he returned to Riga and started to give private lessons in painting. In 1902 he traveled to Spitzbergen in Norway to study the painting of snow. After the Revolution of 1905 Purvītis traveled to Tallinn where he worked as a drawing teacher. In 1909 Purvītis returned to Riga and became director of a Riga city art school. In 1918 Purvītis returned to German occupied Riga. In 1919 he became director of a Riga city art museum (Today: Latvian National Museum of Art) and also was one of the founders of the Art Academy of Latvia and was elected as its first rector. During the period of the Republic of Latvia Purvītis also organized many exhibitions of Latvian art in Europe. After Latvian occupation by the Soviet Union in 1940 Purvītis was dismissed from the post of museum director but continued to work in the Art Academy. In 1942 his last exhibition in Riga was held. In 1944 Purvītis lost all of his belongings and many of his works when his house and workshop was destroyed during the Battle of Jelgava in the summer of 1944. Purvītis was forced to evacuate to Liepāja and from there to Danzig. Wilhelms Purvītis died in January 14, 1945. He was awarded with the Order of three stars (III and II class) and many more decorations. He is considered one of a greatest Latvian painters during first half of 20th century. His landscapes are full of local motives and Latvian nature is portrayed in the neo romantic atmosphere. During his lifetime he produced more than thousand paintings and drawings and many of them were never exhibited because he preferred to collect them in his apartment.

by Greek pupils...

Alfons MuchaSlovakia1860 - 1939

Biography

"Art exists only to communicate a spiritual message." Alfons Mucha Alfons Mucha ( 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939) was a Czechoslovak Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist. Drawing had been his main hobby since childhood. After gymnasium, he worked mainly as a decorative painter of theatrical scenery also in Vienna. Later, he studied in Munich. Then he moved to Paris and contiue his studies at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi. He worked at producing magazine and advertising illustrations. Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris, needed a new advertising poster. She was satisfied with Muchas´s work an signed wit him six years contract.In 1897 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris. His first decorative panels are called The Four Seasons. Mucha designed postage stamps and banknotes for the newly established Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, he was arrested by Gestapo. Although he was allowed to return home, he died in Prague in 1939 on pneumonia. Mucha spent many years on his fine art Masterpiece The Slavic Epic, which is a series of twenty monumental canvases (the largest measuring over 6 by 8 metres) depicting the history of the Slav people and civilisation.

by Latvian pupils...

by French pupils...

by Bulgarian pupils...

by Portuguese pupils...

Yiannis Tsarouchis Greece1910-1989

Biography

Yiannis Tsarouchis is one of the most important painters of the 20th century. He was born in Piraeus and studied in the School of Fine Arts. He continued his studies in Paris and in London. He was a staunch supporter of the movement for the return to the roots of Greek art. His painting "The Four Seasons" is oil in canvas,160x300 cm, 1969. It depicts seasons as human figures, two men and two women, who are standing in front of a table with fruit on it. He highlights the beauty of human existence and emphasizes the simple, ordinary things. The big table symbolizes the coexistence of those people, but also the sacred moment of having supper, where everyone is gathered around the table.There are of course fruit on the table from all seasons:grapes, peaches, apricots, watermelon, cherries, melons. In the first part, on a window, he drew Spring (on the left), in the second part, in the middle, he drew Summer and Autumn and in the third part, on a window (on the right) Winter. Figures Spring: a girl with long hair, rose on the face, wearing a blue dress and holding a pink rose on her left hand. Summer: a well-built man, half naked, crowned with red flowers, holding grains on his left hand and a sickle on the right. Autumn: a girl with a dark brown scarf on her head, who is wearing a red dress and holding with her fingers a white scarf filled with black and white grapes. Winter: a man with thick black hair, who has a coat on his back, unbuttoned, holding it with both hands. Four faces, four friends beautiful eyes, tight lips one comes, another goes who is next to you? who reigns?

by French pupils

by Portuguese pupils

José Sobral de Almada-Negreiros Portugal1893 - 1970

Biography

José Sobral de Almada Negreiros (São Tomé e Príncipe, April 7, 1893 - Lisbon, June 15, 1970) was a Portuguese artist. In 1915, along with Fernando Pessoa and Mário de Sá-Carneiro, publishes poems and texts in the Orpheu artistic magazine, which would introduce modernist literature and art in Portugal. This same year Almada Negreiros writes the famous Manifesto Anti-Dantas e por extenso, a humorous attack against a more traditionalist and bourgeois older generation. In 1917, with the scope of introducing to the Portuguese public the Futuristic aesthetics, publishes, together with Santa-Rita Pintor, the Portugal Futurista magazine, writing the Ultimatum Futurista, às gerações portuguezas do século XX ("Futurist ultimatum to the Portuguese generations of the 20th century"). Between the years 1918-20 Almada lives in Paris. In 1920 he returns to Lisbon and in 1925 he produces two paintings for one of the most famous cafés in Lisbon, A Brasileira. In 1927 he goes to Madrid, returning to Portugal only in 1932. In 1933 he married painter Sarah Afonso (1899 – 1983) and they have a son, named José Afonso de Almada Negreiros. Almada Negreiros always called himself a futurist artist, inspired by Marinetti and other modern artists, however his style is wider, and its hardly defined into a category. His work as visual artist extends to tapestry, printmaking, theater and ballet scenography. An important part of his artistic production is literary. He wrote novels, poems, playwrights, essays and manifests that were, in his lifetime, published in books, magazines, newspapers or even low cost booklets and flyers.

by Portuguese pupils...

by Spanish pupils...

Hristo TsolevBulgaria1947

Biography

Bulgarian artist HRISTO TSOLEV was born on 5th April 1947 in Sopot. He was a teacher of Art and previous mayor of Sopot. This year he has an anniversary - 70 years old. His last exhibition contained 24 pictures of local landscapes and fountains. There were 10 woodcarvings with Zodiac signs too.

by French pupils...

by Greek pupils...

This is how our pupils had imagined "Four Seasons"of Alfons Mucha...

Spanish pupils were inspired by Almada Negreiros

We did a competition with our students from 4th grade and we chose these 4 pictures...

painted by Alexsander Angelov, 10 years old

painted by Nina Rodeva, 10 years old

Slovenian pupils worked on Picasso...

Slovenian pupils worked on Monet...

Greek pupils were inspired by Ivana Kobilca...

Greek pupils were inspired by Vilhelms Purvītis...

Greek pupils were inspired by Hristo Tsolev...

Portuguese pupils worked on Monet...

Portuguese pupils worked on Picasso, in primary school and kindergarten

Portuguese pupils worked on Alfons Mucha...

French pupils worked on Yiannis Tsarouchis

Portuguese pupils worked on Yiannis Tsarouchis

Portuguese pupils worked on Almada Negreiros

French pupils worked on Picasso...

French pupils were inspired by Hristo Tsolev...

French pupils colored Alfons Mucha's drawings

French pupils painted self-portraits like Ivana Kobilca...