Rene Magritte – Positive and Negative Space
Our school’s art program attempts to introduce students to various famous artists throughout their course of study. Each time I get to teach a particular artist, I typically give a brief background on the artist then proceed with an art project that either reflects the style of that artist, mimics a certain work he/she has done, or uses a medium for which the artist is known. This month I am teaching the sixth graders about Rene Magritte (pronounced muh-greet) and am using his painting Decalcomania (1966) to teach them a bit about the concepts of positive and negative space.
Getting to Know the World’s Artists is a fantastic series by Mike Venezia (affiliate link). The students love the tidbits of humor and pictures so, when there is one available for the artist I am teaching, I love to read these books with the kids.
Afterward, I present my lesson using a powerpoint presentation, which saves me the time it would take to fully demonstrate the project. If there are certain steps with which I expect them to struggle, however, I will show them how to do it in person. Generally, though, the presentations give them a great step-by-step guide to completing the project. For this project, we used watercolor to mimic Magritte’s painting Decalcomania.
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- Make a red watercolor wash
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- Add a bit of black to make a darker shade of red
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- Use dark red to paint folds in the curtain
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- Use blue to paint larger paper, leaving white spaces for clouds
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- Make a very watered down yellow paint
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- Add yellow to white areas and blend edges of clouds
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- Cut out figure, lay on red paper and trace around it.
Materials used: Watercolor paper, watercolors, black and white photos of students, various-sized brushes.
Difficulty: Easy – takes about an hour from start to finish
Rene Magritte Positive and Negative Space Powerpoint presentation.