How to Paint Paul Cezanne- Inspired Apples

I have fallen in love with Cezanne since teaching this lesson. He is an artist that I didn't pay a lot of attention to before. Now, I can't get enough. The kids really love him as well. I think they enjoy seeing the still-life paintings of things they use every day.

How to Make This Project a Hit with Your Students

This project was such a hit with my third graders last year. I taught them about Paul Cezanne as a person and artist. I read Cezanne and the Apple Boy to them and had them act out what they heard. I instructed them to stand right behind their chairs, and modeled what that meant. This helped them self-control, a valuable lesson for all children.

They get so excited with this activity that some will start running around the room. Totally engaged, but running around the room! This is a great book for this activity because there are parts where it talks about Paul walking up a steep path. Walking a steep path looks different than walking a regular path. This lesson is great for vocabulary, too.

How to Paint Paul Cezanne-Inspired Apples

After they learned about the artist, I taught them to blend paint to create the apples. They cut out the apples and glued to black construction paper. Then, they cut around the apples to create a border with the black. I had to model this and discuss it extensively. They really have to use their spatial reasoning to do this because they are so used to cutting on a line. 

You may need to differentiate for some students (as I had to do), allowing them to draw a border and then cut. I encouraged them to try it the other way first, however. Only a few had to do the drawing part. If I had not required them to try just cutting it first, I think the majority of them would've defaulted to drawing their lines. 

They were surprised and pleased when they tried it. Even the ones who ended up drawing the lines were proud of themselves for trying something new.

Creating the Background

They created the background with torn newspaper and sheet music (copies), adding a watercolor wash and sprinkled some silver glitter. Some of the little darlings didn't get stems and leaves on their apples. Something to note: I wish I'd spent a little more time on that part and will in the future. 

Their finished products turned out amazing and I have no doubt that your students’ artwork will too!

Do you teach Cezanne? What are your favorite lessons? If you decide to try this, send me pics! I would love nothing better than to see what you and your students are up to!