Colour and Emotion: Picasso Portraits ~Year 1-2 art lesson

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LEARNING INTENTIONS:

To learn about Picasso’s abstract portraits showing different  views of facial features, including portrait of Dora Mar and the Weeping Woman.

To create portraits to show emotion in the style of Picasso.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

I can talk about some abstract portraits  by Picasso.

I can explore different facial features to make abstract Picasso style portraits.

I can use paint/ pastel, line and colour to create an artwork of an expressive face with two sides (each showing a different emotion) in the style of Picasso

I can use a colour to match the emotion shown on each side of the face.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

As an introduction, watch a video (see below a list of suitable videos for Year 1-2) like “Picasso elementary lesson” explaining his style and why he made his portraits this way.

VIDEOS:

Pablo Picasso: Cubist Art Lesson  – video about emotions and Picasso’s abstract portraits

Picasso’s Trousers by Nicholas Allan | Art Stories with Kids– picture story book about Picasso’s abstract art

Pablo Picasso Elementary Lesson  – Picasso bio, abstract portraits etc

Pablo Picasso: Cubist Art Lesson  Picasso use of colour- most relevant part of the video from 4:09min

View portrait of Dora Maar painting by Picasso. Discuss the colours used and the different views of the face. Next, view Weeping Woman 1937. Note the colours and emotion on the faces (Explain Picasso drew and painted a series of “Weeping Woman” in response to the Spanish Civil war and the loss and devastation- these portraits portraying a mother who has lost her child in the bombing, using colour and expression to convey feelings of anguish, horror, deep sorrow and mourning.)

Students can compare these two portraits of “Weeping Woman” by talking about the similarities and differences.

Students are shown how we can draw a Picasso face by playing “Roll a Picasso” game to choose different features. They draw some faces in their Scrap Books.

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Next lesson, students choose two emotions they would like to show on either side of the face, choosing some features from their Roll-a-Picasso drawings to suit the feeling. Students draw in grey-lead pencil, firstly drawing a face shape or using a template to trace. After making a mark in the middle of the face students choose a nose to draw down from that point, then adding the line continuing up to the top of the head and below the nose to split the face in two. They add eyes, mouth hair etc. Trace over in black marker.

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Talk about colours that could represent emotions. For example, yellow=happy, sad=blue, red=angry, green=calm, purple=confused. Students paint their faces in a colours to match the emotion shown on each half.

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Background can paint or food dye “wash” . Students describe the emotion on each side of the face along with colour chosen to match.