On a snowy day last week, I decided to bring some warmth into the school to contemplate the sunflowers”, as Vincent Van Gogh would put it. I’ve always loved Van Gogh mostly because of the way by which he expressed his emotions by use of colour. I wanted the children to try to make the connection between the use of this artist’s colours and their own feelings about it.

I read them a children’s version about Van Gogh and his life. They seemed to commiserate mostly when Van Gogh and his beloved brother were distanced. They could really empathize with the sibling relationship.

I have a precious vintage art book about Van Gogh that has been in my family for many years. It has a stunning print of “Harvest at La Crau” and we reflected together about the golden light of this painting and how it’s relieved by shades of green and violet. The children were mesmerized. Their significant connection to the painter came when they looked at “Vincent’s Bedroom in Arles”. As they all have bedrooms, to be invited into this painter’s room was indeed exciting. For Van Gogh, this painting was hopeful and restful. When one child piped up and said, “It feels good” and the rest of the class said that it made them “happy”, I knew they understood how colours embrace feelings.

Then we looked at the famous “Sunflowers” and the children used Colour Box 3 to find the shades they saw in Vincent’s painting. Then came their paintings. We used the paint colours the children picked. I made a rough sketch with charcoal to assist them with scale, but the entire painting was on them. The colours they used, the way they filled in the flowers and the centre, the stems, the vase — was their own artistic expression. I think you would agree, they turned out beautifully! They were extremely proud of themselves.