Klimt Inspired!

Last summer, I took a long road trip to visit family and friends. One of the highlights of this trip was getting to see Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele. The movie "Woman in Gold" had come out that spring and if you haven't seen it, I recommend you check it out!

 The movie tells the story of how the painting was taken by the Nazi's in Germany and the family's fight to get the painting back. The painting now lives at the Neue Galerie in New York city, which I visited.

I was not able to take photos of the actual painting, but they had a replica downstairs that visitors were able to take photos with.

 



I was also really excited and inspired by this children's story about the history of the painting. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and my students were completely mesmerized by the metallic colors. The book was nearly $30 but totally worth it! You can find the book here on the Neue Galerie website.

I read this story to my 3rd, 4th, and 1st grade students. My 3rd and 4th grade students did the same assignment, portraits that the backgrounds were then filled in with pattern and later painted using metallic tempera paints.

Finally my firsties looked at Klimt's painting "The Kiss" and we talked about patterns on quilts and blankets. I took their photos with my phone, printed them on the school's black and white copier, and had them cut them out, and create patterns on the blankets using markers and crayons. These were one of my favorite lessons last year! I hope you are inspired by Klimt as well!