Secondary schools: Online talks
Interactive talks from Gallery Educators over Zoom
Key Stages 3-5
- School contact details
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of date for your session
- Finance contact details. Although our sessions are free for UK schools, late cancellations and no-shows may incur a charge
- Teacher contact details. This should be a teacher who will be in the classroom with each group.
- Group sizes are 10-25 students per session
- You can book more than one group in a single booking request, just use the ‘Add another group’ option. Groups can differ by key stage, theme, date and time of their session
- There is a maximum of 3 groups per date.
Please let us know 21 days prior to your session if you need to cancel. Cancellations made with less than 21 days’ notice and no-shows will incur a charge for UK schools and are non-refundable for overseas groups.
All of our themes can be adapted for SEND groups. Please contact us at schoolbookings@nationalgallery.org.uk for more information about how we can meet your group’s needs. We recommend a maximum group size of 10.
Key Stage 3-5
Art through history: Renaissance, Baroque, The Dutch Golden Age, or Impressionism
Students will be given an overview of their chosen period which will place it in the context of the wider history of art and help make connections across time. By looking at a small number of paintings in depth, they will explore the style, themes, materials and techniques of the time and how the art of the period fits into broader social and political developments.
General introduction
Students will be introduced to the richness of the nation’s, and therefore their collection. They will practise their observational and visual literacy skills by focusing on three paintings from across the gallery.
History through art
The National Gallery represents a slice of history (Western European History, 1250–1912), and paintings can be a good and useful record of a different time and place – such as Renaissance paintings, for example. The materials artists had available and as a result, the way paintings look, can tell us about changing times. For example, portraits can show us how wealth, power, and status were understood and conveyed, at different times, places and political contexts; changes in fashion and etiquettes can be explored as well as the effects of significant cultural and technological changes such as the coming of the railways and photography.
Materials, techniques, and processes
Students spend time exploring different materials and processes that are used in the making of paintings, and their different properties. A specialist educator will investigate visually with your students how artists create, for example, perspective, pattern, colour and light.
Myths and legends
Students explore a selection of myths and legends through the visual language of paintings and gain more of an understanding of the genre. Specialist educators will encourage students to express their opinions and ideas about the stories explored. These narratives never fail to engage young people. They can be a good way of encouraging looking at paintings, but specific links can also be made for students studying Homer and Virgil.
Religion in art
Students will consider how religious narratives can be represented in paintings – particularly in the comparison of two treatments of the same subject (e.g. The Annunciation). Pupils will be guided in thinking about how artists represent moral ideas in Christian art – ideas of good and bad behaviour, the demands of family, sacrifice and duty. Sessions may act as a general investigation or focus on particular festivals such as Christmas or Easter.
Still life, Landscapes, or Portraiture
Students will explore chosen genre across the periods covered by the collection, looking at how it has been approached by different artists. Gallery educators will guide them through the key elements of composition in either Still life, Landscape or Portraiture, encouraging comparisons of style and technique.
Techniques for visual analysis
This session searches through the collection finding hidden symbols in paintings. Specialist educators guide pupils in looking for clues and making connections between objects in the paintings explored. Students develop their visual literacy whilst building their confidence in describing and discussing what they see.