Art 1: Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Claude Monet & Georges Seurat
Oil Pastel Landscape Lesson Plan
VAH1-1.1: Recognize and analyze the similarities and differences between materials, techniques, and
processes in works of visual art.
VAH1-1.4: Apply materials, techniques, and processes with skill, confidence, and sensitivity sufficient to make
his or her intentions observable in the artwork that he or she creates.
VAH1-2.1: Recognize, describe, and analyze the elements and principles of design and other compositional
structures and strategies used in the visual arts to communicate ideas.
VAH1-4.3: Describe and discuss the function and meaning of specific artworks from various world cultures and
historical periods.
VAH1-4.5: Apply a knowledge of art history, various cultures, and technologies in the creation of original works
of visual art.
Objectives:
● The student will identify, explain, and produce a landscape painting using oil pastel techniques.
● The student will use point of view and perspective to create a landscape artwork.
● The student will identify elements and principles of design in works of art by Claude Monet, and
Georges Seurat.
● The student will discuss how each artist used the elements and principles of design to communicate an
idea or feeling.
● The student will identify impressionist & post-impressionist works of art and discuss similarities
between them.
● The student will discuss ways that impressionist & post-impressionist artists use oil-based media to
represent the styles.
● The student will identify the work of major modern artist Claude Monet.
Essential Questions:
★ How can oil pastels be used to create a variety of natural textures?
★ How can characteristics of impressionism be used in our landscape artworks?
★ What characteristics identify impressionistic works of art?
Materials: 6.5” X 18” mat board, oil pastels, baby oil, Q-tips, sketch paper, pencil, oil pastel practice
handouts, printed reference photographs
Art 1: Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Claude Monet & Georges Seurat
PROCEDURES:
1. The student will participate in a lesson on Impressionists artworks, the history & characteristics of the
movement, and artworks and information about Claude Monet.
2. The student will also participate in a lesson on Post-Impressionist artworks, the history &
characteristics of the movement, and artworks and information about Georges Seurat.
3. The student will compare and contrast the work of the impressionist & post-impressionist artists both
verbally and in writing.
4. The student will discuss how the artists used the elements and principles of design in their artworks as
well as how oil-based media was used to represent both styles.
5. Throughout the presentation students will complete fill in the blank notes about Impressionism,
Post-Impressionism, Claude Monet, and Georges Seurat. Students will also match the vocabulary
words at the end of the lesson plan with their definitions.
6. The teacher will demonstrate blending and stippling with oil pastels and the student will practice these
techniques in two practice exercises. (Natural Textures in Oil Pastel & Oil Pastel Techniques Sheet)
7. The student will select reference photographs of landscape subject matter such as trees, shrubbery,
bridges, architecture, mountains, rivers, beaches, etc. from the teacher’s reference files.
8. The student will create their own sketches of two different landscape compositions.
9. The student will re-draw their best landscape sketch onto a piece of 6.5” X 18” mat board.
10. The student will create a landscape pastel artwork using characteristics of Impressionism and oil pastel
techniques.
Vocabulary:
● Impressionism: late nineteenth-century movement in which artists recorded the immediate effect
produced by light.
● George Seurat:
● Oil Pastel: pastel consisting of a pigment mixed with a non-drying oil and wax binder.
● Perspective: the representation of three-dimensional objects and space on a flat surface.
● Middle ground: the intermediate zone of space, between foreground and background in a work of art.
● Actual texture: the way a surface actually feels
● Claude Monet:
● Pointillism: a style of nineteenth-century French painting in which colors are systematically applied
which colors are systematically applied to canvas in small dots, producing a vibrant surface.
● Landscape: a work of art that shows the features of the natural environment. (trees, lakes, mountains)
● Foreground: area of a picture that appears nearest to the viewer.
● Background: the area of a picture that appears farthest away in a three-dimensional illusion.
● Implied texture: the way a surface appears to feel