On the 21^st of June, Year 4 visited the National Gallery in London. It was the first time that most of our children had visited the Gallery. They were in awe of the size of the paintings and the intricacy of the frames. We were given a guided tour of the gallery, focussing on paintings that told stories on Myths and Legends. The guides asked the children questions to deduce how much they knew about the paintings and what they could see. From there, they introduced the artist and told us the complex narratives, how the story had been plotted, atmosphere created, introduced the characters and swept us along in the emotional stories all in a single canvas. The children enjoyed spotting the visual clues which the artist had included and gave their own opinions and interpretations on what they thought was happening and why.

The children then went on a teacher led walk through the Gallery to find paintings we had discussed in class. One of them was The Ambassadors by Holbein and the other was Bathers by Seurat. They also had an opportunity to see Van Gough’s work. Their excitement spilled out, when they spotted ‘The Sunflowers’ and remembered creating it when they were in KS1.