Camille and the Sunflowers (Anholts Artists)

March 31, 2008 | By Doug In van Gogh |

Camille and the Sunflowers (Anholts Artists)
Customer Review: A great way to introduce children to art.
I think this is a wonderful way to introduce children to the paintings of Van Gogh through a gentle story of Van Gogh’s time in Camille’s town. All the illustrations are in a Van Gogh-esque style and the yellow fields, night sky, house and chair etc appear just in the background illustrations. In addition there are reproductions of some portraits and the famous sunflower painting. The story is quite sad as it reflects the true story where Van Gogh is not accepted by the people of the town, but his unhappiness is relatively implicit so my children (2&4) understand this as teasing rather than anything stronger, and at the end when Van Gogh leaves but they just assume he’s off to paint elsewhere. If you wanted to draw out lessons on being different, talk about great masters etc. this is a very good starting point.

Customer Review: Fantastic for literacy and art cross-curricular links.
A lovely book with excellent illustrations encorporating Van Gough’s own art work. This book gives a fictional view of Van Gough’s thoughts behind some of his most beautiful work. The book comes complete with lesson ideas for year 2, although I used the book with a reception class as we were looking at Van Gough’s sunflowers. It was a big hit as the children built up empathy with Van Gough and they produced brillant paintings themselves. It does not mention the ear!! and so is suitable for a primary age and is a fantastic teaching tool, and an easy to afford price!.

Vincent Van Gogh (Cafe Terrace at Night) Framed Art Poster Print - 11″ X 14″
This poster is of Vincent Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night. It shows the outside seating of a cafe, as well as the night sky. There are also people strolling down the street. This framed poster measures approx. 11″ x 14″ Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch draughtsman and painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist a pioneer of Expressionism. His famous works include Falling Autumn Leaves, The Starry Night, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, although he is also known for cutting off part of his left ear and for his suicide. The Starry Night is the title given to one of the best known and most reproduced paintings painted while Van Gogh was staying in Arles.