Easy craft ideas for kids – Vincent van Gogh inspired art
Activity Duration: 30 mins - 1.5 hours
Creating artwork inspired by Vincent van Gogh is a great rainy-day or school holiday art activity for children.
Vincent van Gogh lived a unique and fascinating life. While your child carries out the art project, you can explain the themes of his artwork and the context in which they were created.
This craft activity is perfect for older children from age 7 upwards, as they build the layers needed to create the wonderful colours and textures in Van Gogh’s work.
I have also included a way to adapt this activity to suit younger children from 4 to 6-year-olds.
Table of Contents
What style of art is Vincent van Gogh known for?
Why do children love creating art in the style of Vincent van Gogh?
What materials are required to create art in the style of Vincent van Gogh?
Who was Vincent van Gogh?
Vincent van Gogh was a 19th Century Dutch artist (b. 30th March 1853 – d. 29th July 1890). Van Gogh was not considered a successful artist during his lifetime, selling just one painting throughout his career, however since his death, he has become one of the most well known artists in history.
The style of Vincent van Gogh’s work is called “Post-Impressionism” and is characterised by bright, complementary colours and layering of oil paints. Van Gogh was actually colour-blind, making his use of colour even more fascinating.
Most of Vincent van Gogh’s work was created in The Netherlands, Paris and Arles, in South West France.
Sadly, Vincent van Gogh suffered with severe depression. Many of his paintings were created while in a psychiatric hospital. One of the most famous known facts about Vincent van Gogh is that he cut off his own ear with a razor during an altercation with the artist Paul Gauguin in 1888.
Vincent van Gogh had a very close relationship with his younger brother, Theo van Gogh. Hundreds of letters between the two exist to this day. It was Theo that supported Vincent financially, enabling him to focus on his artwork. The letters between the brothers contributed to Vincent van Gogh’s posthumous reputation as a great artist.
What style of art is Vincent van Gogh known for?
Vincent van Gogh is a leading figure, along with artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat, of the art movement called “Post-Impressionism”. Post-Impressionism developed mainly in France in the latter years of the 19th Century.
What is “Post-Impressionism”?
“Post-Impressionism” is an art movement that emerged primarily in France from the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century.
“Post-Impressionism” developed as a backlash to “Impressionism”. A key element of Impressionist art was the importance of accurately capturing changes in light and colour. Post-Impressionists considered the colour accuracy sought by Impressionist artists imposed limitations, instead favouring distorted and unnatural colours.
Post-Impressionist artists developed Impressionist art further, aiming to convey deeper emotions in their artwork. Leading artists in the Post-Impressionist movement were Vincent van Gogh, along with artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat.
Why do children love creating art in the style of Vincent van Gogh?
Using oil pastels, it’s possible for children to mimic the vivid colours and unusual shapes as seen in Vincent Van Gogh’s work. They are able to build up the layers to create a similar style to the oil paint that Vincent Van Gogh used.
Children can be encouraged to use his paintings as a guide and to explore their own colour choices and subject matter using a similar style.
This art activity needs very little equipment and is a relatively tidy art activity, making it perfect for parents and carers too!
What materials are required to create art in the style of Vincent van Gogh?
To get started, you need very little equipment.
Paper or card
Oil pastels (chalk, coloured pencils, felt tips or paints, can be used if you do not have oil pastels)
Pencil
Tissues or paper towels
Instructions for creating Vincent van Gogh inspired art
Choose a Vincent van Gogh painting to use as your inspiration. We chose ‘The Starry Night’. Have the picture in front of you on a computer or print it out.
First sketch out the main shapes in pencil on a piece of paper.
NOTE: For younger children, you can print out this outline of ‘The Starry Night’ for them to colour in.
Use oil pastels to start colouring the main shapes.
Encourage the child to look at the different colours Vincent van Gogh has used in each shape and build up the layers using the different colours.
Blend the colours together using a tissue, kitchen paper or fingers.
Continue until the picture is complete!
Using this technique, and colour combinations, children can take their understanding further and begin to explore their own chosen colours and subject matter using a similar technique.
I hope you have found this guide helpful and enjoy this activity as much as we do. If you have made any Vincent van Gogh Art, I would love to see it! You can email me at sarahransomeart@gmail.com.
