Colour Families

Victor Vasarely

Vasarely’s paintings were mainly geometric and he used colours that interacted with each other to give the illusion of movement of 3D forms in a 2-dimensional painting. His colours became even brighter in the 1960s to emphasise the impression of movement. Vasarely was one of the founders of the Op Art movement.

Look at some of Vasarely’s paintings and encourage the children to talk about the colours and shapes. This is good for developing observation and speaking and listening skills.

Henri Matisse

One of the most influential French painters of the 20th century, Matisse was dedicated to using pure colour and to investigating how expressive colour could be e.g. how intense colours can affect mood and give a certain feel to a painting. Later in life he suffered from bad health and did some large mural painting from his bed with a brush on a stick. He also did some paper cut outs which he described as ‘drawing with scissors’.

Look at Matisse’s Jazz series of paper cuts. Encourage the children to think about the feelings & emotions suggested by the colours and imagery.

Pablo Picasso (blue period)

Picasso was a young, poor, struggling artist in 1901,living away from home for the first time, when a close friend died. This prompted a series of paintings known as Picasso’s Blue Period (1901—1904). The paintings evoke feelings of cold, isolation, unhappiness and often feature one person alone in a featureless setting which heightens the feeling of being alone.

Talk with the children about why they think some of Picasso’s paintings look rather sad (shades of blue evoke cold and lonely feelings). Discuss which colours would make the children feel happy or warm and paint bold shapes in these colours.