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Painting an Impression

Featuring Claude Monet’s Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter), 1875–76

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter), 1875-76. Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 39 3/8 inches (60 x 100 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Charles Clifton, 1919 (1919:8).

Lesson Plan Details

  • Type:

    Collection

  • Grade Levels:

    Grades K–5, Grades 6–8, Grades 9–12

  • Project Type:

    Traditional 2D

  • Art Movement:

    Impressionism

  • Art Content:

    Historical Milestones

  • Geographic Location:

    Europe

  • Learning Standards:

    College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language, College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening, New York State Standards for the Arts

  • Interdiscplinary Connections:

    Visual Arts

Conceptual Basis

Impressionist paintings are categorized by bright colors and loose brushstrokes meant to represent the impression a viewer has on a moment. The effects of light on a scene are also a characteristic of many Impressionist paintings. Claude Monet’s Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter), 1875–76, gives the viewer an impression of a cold gray winter’s day in a suburb of Paris. In this lesson, students will become inspired by Impressionism and create their own technique and styled landscape painting.

View and Download Lesson Plan (PDF)

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