2nd grade art lesson - Piet Mondrian

We are fully engaged in art lessons in our homeschool. Buttercup and I love learning about different artists and new techniques.

We recently read about Piet Mondrian and tried some art work of our own using some of his techniques.

Our lesson included:

• Reading a simple biography. (When I say simple, I mean a book written for children)

• Looking at the artist's work in a book or online.

• Discussing the artist's technique and what we like/dislike about it.

• Doing a word search puzzle which we found at www.makingartfun.com (This has become one of our favorite websites! More about them later)

• Making our own Mondrian inspired art work.

• Visiting a museum to see his work in person. Read how we make museum visits fun!

 

 

Mondrian Inspired art work

 

Materials:

• 1 sheet of white computer paper
• a few sheets of construction paper in black, red, yellow and blue
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue

 

Instructions:

• Measure and cut a few strips of black construction paper in different widths. We used 1/2 inch, and 3/4 inch strips
• Place your strips on the white paper. Arrange them any way you want.
• Cut squares and rectangles in different sizes to place between the strips over the white paper.



 

 

About Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, in 1872. At a very young age, his father Pieter introduced Piet to art. In 1892, Mondrian entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam as a teacher. While there, he continued to work on his own paintings, most of which were landscapes and pastoral images of Holland. He was initially influenced by the pointillist and fauvist movements. However, in 1911, Mondrian discovered Cubism which led him toward abstraction. As early as 1912 when he painted The Sea, it can be seen that his art work began to be dominated by geometric shapes.  Mondrian continued to explore abstract forms eventually developing a style he called neo-plasticism.

It was during his time in Paris after the war, where he painted one of his most famous paintings, Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue.  Piet Mondrian died of pneumonia in New York City on February 1, 1944.

Happy Homeschool Adventures!!