Y E A R  3

In June, Year 3 visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery as part of their Art curriculum. The visit had two elements, a tour of the gallery and a practical workshop. The focus of the gallery tour was narrative painting.

We looked at several paintings which told stories such as Horatius Defending the Bridge, Samson and Delilah and Armida and Rinaldo. A Friend of the Gallery explained to the children how to use the details in the paintings to tell the stories. This part of the visit also incorporated drama as the children were asked to recreate the pictures as tableaux and then to bring these to life to discover what happened next.

The children also had the opportunity to sketch a small part of one of the paintings. In the practical workshop, the children worked in the art studio with an artist and learned how to draw a portrait. They learnt about the proportions of faces, how to draw features and how to change a basic face into a portrait. These skills were then used back at school to create portraits of each other.

Year 3 enjoyed the visit enormously especially as the weather held and we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch in the grounds.