Introduction to Surrealism: Line and Shading Skills

Grade Level

7-8

Duration

5-6 periods, 45-minute periods

Materials

Construction paper, paper, pencil, magazines, glue, scissors, X-Acto knife

Media

Mixed media

Lesson Objectives

The student will
Observe and discuss Surrealist Work by Magritte, Dali, and Miro.
Understand and create artwork involving line, shape, value, and form.
Understand how to create space through overlapping collaged images with their drawings.

Introductory Activity

Because of time restraints, this teacher combines multiple state standards in a single lesson. In this lesson, the teacher combined an introduction to surrealism with line and shading skills. The teacher started with teaching line and shading skills. Using a pencil, they drew parallel curved lines and shaded them to create the illusion of depth, making them look ribbon-like. Students then learned how to draw a shape, like a circle, and add value to transform it into a form. Other forms involve drawing the sides of the form like a pyramid or a cube.

Then the teacher introduced surrealism by showing examples of works by Dali, Magritte, and Miro. The teacher led a discussion about the movement’s dreamlike qualities, evident in surrealist works created through the juxtaposition of two or more things that don’t usually go together.

Lesson Process

Next, the teacher had the students cut the shapes out and collage them on black construction paper. Students then cut interesting colored images from magazines and placed them in relation to the drawn elements to create a sense of space through overlap.