No Blue Without Yellow

Outside the painter's canvas

For his film, the director had to imagine the exterior of the paintings, what Van Gogh saw but did not represent, because in front of a landscape, the painter decides on a frame.
This short film is an excellent support to approach the notions of framing, field, counter-field and off-field but also the difference between the frame in painting, in photography and the field in cinema.

Ferme avec tas de tourbe (La Drenthe)
Vincent Van Gogh, 1883
Musée van Gogh, CC BY-SA 4.0

Exterior of the painting in the film
Maciek Janicki © 2018

Two activities are particularly interesting around the notion of framing.
1- Imagine the outside of the painting
Ask the children to imagine and then draw the outside of a painting of their choice, what the painter did not represent.
2- Choose a frame
2- Ask the children to frame a landscape, the classroom or the playground for example.
The children will explain their choice of framing, why they have chosen to limit their drawing, to show or not to show certain parts of the landscape.

Van Gogh's paintings

The short film features many of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and will be an opportunity to discover in particular the original impressionist paintings from the Arles period.
Using an Internet search, find the paintings by Van Gogh depicted in the film.
Compare the chronology of Van Gogh's paintings with the order in which they appear in the film.