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Listen to the Colors!

Music has the power to evoke all sorts of images. The artist Wassily Kandinsky could even "hear colors." Students will learn about Kandinsky as they listen to music and paint what they hear.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian painter and one of the pioneers of abstract art. He also had synesthesia, which is a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another. For Kandinsky, hearing music produced a visualization of color. Have students look at some images of his work. Ask them to imagine what kind of music would inspire some of the color choices. Would high-pitched music evoke light colors? Would bass notes produce a darker, heavier image?

  • Step 2

    Play various types of classical music and ask students to paint as they hear each piece. Some works that inspired Kandinsky's art include the opera "Lohengrin" by Wagner and "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky. Kandinsky also developed a friendship with Arnold Schoenberg, a modern composer known for writing atonal and twelve-tone music. You might want to choose one of those and pair it with other works such as a Strauss waltz or a Chopin prelude.

  • Step 3

    Have students review all the artwork and see how the paintings compare. Did a heavy opera by Wagner inspire a different sort of look than a waltz by Strauss? Did they start associating different colors with different representations?

Standards

ARTS: Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art.

ARTS: Describe what an image or performance represents.

Adaptations

Kandinsky said, "Color is a power which directly influences the soul." Ask students to contemplate what he meant by this. How does it relate to feelings? Can different colors produce different emotions in different people? Can color help put us in touch with our innermost selves?

Kandinsky taught at the famed Bauhaus art school in Germany from 1922-1933. Have students learn about this institution, which sought to merge art with expert craftsmanship. Ask them to research its founder, the architect Walter Gropius, and some of the notable artists on staff there.