What Does Picasso Have to Do With Math?

Integrated Subjects (thus far!): Math, Art, Computers

Overview: Continuing on with symmetry, we read an excellent book called "When Pigasso met Mootise" in which we read about the art and life of Picasso and Matisse. As we read the book, we discussed each page, and compared the work of Picasso and Matisse, which we constrasted on chart paper. My goal was to have somebody say that Picasso's work was really asymmetrical - and EUREKA! somebody did say it! This led us into a review of symmetry and then into a discussion about what abstract art is. We came to the conclusion, that like Picasso's pieces, abstract art was colorful and did not look "real". To help create abstract art, we played "Musical Art" (thanks Sarah), which is similar to musical chairs, but in this case, when the music stopped, you sat down and drew lines on somebody elses piece of paper! The kids really enjoyed this and we were able to create some really amazing abstract pieces of art. For further integration, the kids wrote about Picasso and what they had learned:

Sample Work:

Did you know that Picasso did abstract art? Picasso was born 125 years ago! Picasso is dead. Picasso lived in Spain! Spain is a very hot country. Picasso drew abstract things!

By: Miles


#2

Hi! My name is Danny. I'll be telling you about Picasso and Matisse. Picasso was a world famous artist. He lived until 1881. That's 125 years ago! Did you know that Picasso drew on his wall when he was a kid with a sharp object? Picasso lived in Spain. That's where he drew on the wall. When he grew up he moved to France, that's where Picasso met Matisse. Picasso moved to France because everybody was trying to buy his art.

By: Dan









The next step in our journey with Picasso, was to study his masterpiece entitled, "Three Musicians". We had a discussion about what we saw in the art, and many students started to suggest the different shapes we see in his work (rectangles, triangles, squares...). We did an overview of the different shapes they had learned in grade 1, and did an in-class scavenger hunt to list all the different shapes we could see. We went back to Picasso's work and once again reviewed the shapes. Students were then "set free" to create their own rendition of the "Three Musicians".

You could also teach geometric art through the work of Hilary Helfant