Art and design
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
Art and design
- Look at and talk about the work of artists, designers and craftsworkers from their own and other cultures; appreciate methods used in the resource materials and use their appreciation to stimulate personal ideas and engage with informed art making
- Develop their understanding of the visual elements of colour, tone, line, shape, form, space, texture and pattern to communicate their ideas
- Evaluate their own and others’ work and how it was made, explain and share their ideas, discuss difficulties and review and modify work to find solutions
Art and design
- I can create and present work that shows developing skill in using the visual elements and concepts (EXA 2-03a)
- Through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum, I can create images and objects which show my awareness and recognition of detail (EXA 2-04a)
- Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design (EXA 2-05a)
- I can respond to the work of artists and designers by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others' work (EXA 2-07a)
Art and design
- Describe and make comparisons between their own work and that of others
- Experiment with and examine the methods used by other artists from different periods, places and cultures
- Evaluate the methods and results of their own work and that of their fellow pupils
- Pupils should be stimulated and inspired by: other artists; methods and processes; media; styles; ideas
- Explore, experiment with and apply the elements of the visual, tactile and sensory language of art, craft and design which include: line, tone, colour, pattern, texture, shape and form
Expressive Arts
Exploring the expressive arts is essential to developing artistic skills and knowledge and it enables learners to become curious and creative individuals.
Progression step 3:
- I can explore the effects that a range of creative techniques, materials, processes, resources, tools and technologies have on my own and others' creative work.
- I can explore how creative work can represent, document, share and celebrate personal, social and cultural identities.
- I can explore and describe how artists and creative work communicate mood, feelings and ideas and the impact they have on an audience.
Responding and reflecting, both as artist and audience, is a fundamental part of learning in the expressive arts.
Progression step 3:
- I can give and consider constructive feedback about my own creative work and that of others, reflecting on it and making improvements where necessary.
- I can apply knowledge and understanding of context, and make connections between my own creative work and creative work by other people and from other places and times.
- I can reflect upon how artists have achieved effects or communicated moods, emotions and ideas in their work.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear 1889
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)This is one of the lesson resources in The Superpower of Looking on portraits. It focuses on Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.
These lesson resources are also in the portraits theme:
To teach this lesson, download the teachers' notes on a separate device, screen or print them off. Have this webpage open on your screen or whiteboard and use the prompts in the teachers' notes to guide your students through the lesson.
A portrait is an artwork that depicts a specific individual. Initially, portraiture primarily consisted of paintings of the rich and powerful who had commissioned the work, but the genre has grown to depict a wider range of subjects over time and has been further democratised by photography. The term 'portrait' can also refer to an artwork's layout being taller than it is wide, as opposed to a landscape, which is the opposite.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: H 60.5 x W 50 cm
Vincent van Gogh shows himself in his studio in Arles (in the south of France). He painted this portrait of himself just after leaving hospital, where his injured ear was bandaged. His friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin had been staying with him and it is thought that, when Gauguin suddenly decided to leave, the already troubled artist became very upset and wounded his ear.
Van Gogh has either just come in from outside (there is an open door to the right), or his meagre studio is very cold, as he is wrapped up in an overcoat and fur-trimmed hat. On the left is a canvas with a hint of work in progress, possibly interrupted. On the right is a favourite Japanese print with the familiar triangle of Mount Fuji. Japanese art was an inspiration to Van Gogh, and Japan, like his home in Arles, was a place that fired his imagination.
Open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.
Ask your students to describe the artwork, encouraging them to simply say what they can see.
You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.
Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It's best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.
An audio description of the painting is available to listen to. It is accompanied by a full written transcript which can also be used to describe the painting.There is also an audio and tactile book of the painting which can be borrowed from Living Paintings.
Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:
In this video, Paralympian, broadcaster and children's author Ade Adepitan uses his own 'Superpower of Looking' to explore Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.
Content note: this film makes reference to Van Gogh wounding his own ear. Background to this incident is provided in the context box and on the Van Gogh Museum website.
Ask your students these questions before watching the video to support close looking and listening:
Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting.
For this artwork, you will focus on:
Ask your students to evidence their points:
You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses which can be found in the teachers' notes.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear 1889
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN approach on the Superpower homepage.
Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.
Make
Listen
Touch
Move
Communicate
Ask your students to:
Congratulations!
You have now completed this lesson resource on The Superpower of Looking.
There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look at the 'next lessons' section below.
You can also find The Superpower of Looking videos on BBC Teach as part of their Art & Design 7–11 resources.
