Still Life Painting_MYP_Gd 7

About this Unit

Students engage deeply with the Creative Process, cycling through research, analysis, exploration, idea generation, reflection, development, and realisation as they create an original still life painting inspired by the Vanitas tradition. Through historical investigation and personal interpretation, students explore how artists use symbolic objects to reflect themes such as mortality, time, wealth, vanity, and the human condition. Their work culminates in a personally meaningful artwork that communicates a message about contemporary life through symbolic visual language.

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Foundations: Observation and Perception

• Investigate the origins and evolution of Vanitas painting within 17th-century Dutch art and its relevance in modern and postmodern contexts.
• Analyse symbolic objects used by artists to communicate ideas about life, death, materialism, and spirituality.
• Identify and apply the elements of art (shape, form, value, colour, texture, space) and principles of design(balance, contrast, emphasis, rhythm, unity) within still life compositions.
• Record research notes and reflections in the process journal, documenting how historical symbolism connects to modern themes and personal experience.

Creative Expression

• Use graphic organisers and visual analysis tools to explore formal and symbolic aspects of Vanitas paintings from different cultural and historical contexts.
• Generate and develop multiple compositional arrangements for their own still life, incorporating symbolic objects selected for their personal or societal meaning.
• Experiment with a variety of drawing and painting media to explore contrast, lighting, use of shadow, and compositional balance.
• Apply the creative process to solve visual problems, refine compositional decisions, and plan a final artwork with clear artistic intention.

Historical and Cultural Relevance

• Explain the cultural and philosophical significance of Vanitas artworks in European Baroque society and their reinterpretations in modern and contemporary art.
• Compare and contrast still life works from different periods using structured analysis tools such as Venn diagrams and comparative essays.
• Reflect on how artworks from different contexts express universal concerns about impermanence, identity, consumption, and morality.
• Connect symbolism in traditional Vanitas works to current global themes such as consumerism, sustainability, time, and mortality.

Critical Evaluation & Response

• Critically evaluate historical and contemporary Vanitas artworks using researched knowledge and appropriate art vocabulary.
• Reflect continuously in process journals on the development of ideas, choice of symbolic objects, and effectiveness of media experimentation.
• Compose a comparative study essay analysing two still life artworks from different contexts, evaluating similarities and differences in their formal and conceptual aspects.
• Evaluate the success of their own final painting in communicating symbolic meaning and engaging the viewer in reflection.

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