Museum Visit Observation
- PLEASE USE THE PICTURE I PROVIDED (artist: Hervé Télémaque)
1. Formal properties
- Visual elements – colors, value, texture, movement, contrast, light, geometric or organic shapes, lines, time, motion, rhythm
- Composition – balance, focal point, movement, direction, repetition, proportion, balance, symmetry
- Space – how is the illusion of space created or not created
- Style – realistic, abstract/representational, figurative, expressive, conceptual
- What mood or feeling does the artwork convey to you? Why?
- If you could, how would you enter, travel through and exit the artwork?
2. Subject matter
- What is the first thing that comes to mind when you look at the artwork?
- Based on your observations what is the artwork about?
- What clues do you see that support your observation?
- If you could step into the artwork, what would you hear, feel, do, say?
- What is the concept, idea or narrative the artist is trying to convey?
- Is there a hidden message?
3. Historical Context
- Who made it and why?
- Did it have a function?
- Would contemporary audience interpret or understand the work differently compared to the audiences who saw it when it was created?
- Does the work reflect what is/was happening in society historically or politically?
4. Additional Questions/Observations: Once you have answered all the above questions, make a list of your own questions (between three to four questions and answer them) and read any wall text or brochure information available about the work.
At Home: If you found the subject matter, style, material or specific cultural background interesting, please research more about what grabbed your attention.
- Do you have a new understanding of the artwork based on your research?
- Does the background information change any of your opinion or interpretations that you made at the museum?
- Does it help answer any questions you might have had at the museum?
- Would different audiences interpret the work differently?
- Would contemporary audience interpret or understand the work differently compared to the audiences who saw it when it was created?
- Please form a conclusion based on your own observations and the researched information about the artwork and/or artist.
