What do you see here, who is this? Do you recognise the painting, what do you think this story is about?
The portrait shows Vincent Van Gogh.
Who was Vincent Van-Gogh?
What do you think these paintings are called?
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter who lived between 1853 and 1890. Today he is one of the most famous and influential painters in the history of art.
These paintings are called Self portrait and Starry night.
Starry night is today one of the most famous paintings in the world.
What does influential mean?
How do you become influential?
Vincent Van Gogh didn't start painting till he was 27, but from age 27 till 37 (when he died) he painted over 900 paintings.
Why do you think Vincent Van Gogh waited till he was 27 to start painting seriously?
What does that show about growing up and your future?
Van Gogh struggled with his mental health.
What is mental health?
Van Gogh painted Starry night when he was in hospital. In the 1800s mental health was not understood and Van Gogh was living in a cell at the time with bars at the windows. He was allowed to paint to try and heal and he completed Starry night while gazing out of his barred window at the beautiful countryside.
How do you think painting helped Van Gogh with his mental health?
Van Gogh was inspired by other painters. He liked the Japanese artist Hokusai and particularly the famous painting "The great wave off Kanagawa".
Can you see how Van Gogh was inspired by this painting?
What do you think Vincent Van Gogh felt when he painted Starry night, one of the most famous paintings in the world?
Van Gogh felt Starry night was a failure.
He wrote to a friend at the time, "Once again I let myself go reaching for stars that are too big- a new failure - and I have had enough of it."
Why do you think Van Gogh felt like that?
How would you respond if Van Gogh wrote to you and said that?
Van Gogh never knew his paintings would become famous. He died before getting any recognition for his work. Just before he died, he wrote to another friend, "It is absolutely certain that I shall never do important things." Van Gogh died believing himself to be a failure.
150 years later Van Gogh's original paintings are very rarely available to be sold. But there have been some sales that we know about.
Can you guess how much this original Van Gogh painting, "Fields near Les Alpilles" sold for in 2022?
In 2022 it sold for $52million.
Labourer in a field sold in 2017 for $81million.
Starry night is estimated to be worth over a billion dollars.
Vincent Van Gogh never knew his paintings were going to be so loved.
What can we learn from this story?
(Believe in yourself, also you never know what the future holds - when things get tough, hold on. No feeling lasts for ever.)
Why is this about No Outsiders? (Van Gogh definitely felt like an outsider in his life. What would we say to Van Gogh if he was at our school and believed he was a failure?)
Which British Value is this about?
To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every Friday, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org
No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat (scheme of work for primary schools)
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Watch CPD films showing schools teaching belonging
