Year 5 Children 9-10 years old asked to consider a reproduction of Guernica
The development of ideas evolve as the children become more involved with the painting.
Question
What is it ?
Answer
A picture ( immediately recognised as being by Picasso.)
Question What is it about ?
Answers
A farm - I can see a bull, animals, a horse.
A bedroom
Everyone's in a rush.
A haunted room. - The bulls arm is off the rest of his body.
The roof is off, there's only the house walls.
Dead people - people lying down.
I can see people, - animals - bodies - a fight -a knife - ghosts.
There's a ghost by the door.
Question Show me the door ?
Answers
Headless - bodiless.
There's a dying child with it's mother, she screaming at God.
Was it the artists friend who was dying ? Suffocating ?
It might be the 2nd World War.
It's about anger. They're all dying - are they poisoned?
They could be dying from AIDS. Something might be killing them.
Children are told the title of the Work - they recorded this in their sketch books.
Guessed at the date of the painting - 1859, 1922, 1995 - children told the date was 1937.
Research
What was happening in and around 1937 ?