Art is not useless, nor is art profound. It is art that both you and your children can understand.

Some people say that art is useless, but many times we really need these "useless" things, because it gives our lives more color and flavor.

However, how can parents without artistic talent, let alone artistic attainments, cultivate their children's artistic sentiment?

"How to Teach Children About Art" is a children's art enlightenment book written by a senior French art historian for adults. In other words, it is written for parents like us who are worried about how to discuss art with their children. of.

This "useless" art cannot help but seem sophisticated to us ordinary people, so we dare not talk about it easily. However, after reading "How to Teach Children about Art", I suddenly became more confident and suddenly realized that art can be taught in this way.

Just like when we write articles, if the article is too lengthy, people may not like to read it. When teaching art to children, if it is too complicated, children may not be able to understand it.

"How to Teach Art to Children" breaks out of the box and tells us to see art from a child's perspective. The first part of the book contains 63 tips for "teaching art to children", encouraging children and parents to put aside adult opinions and enter the art world with children's vision, thinking and actions.

First of all, you must believe in your children and yourself. I believe that children can understand art, and I believe that I can explain art to children. If the child is the audience, you are the interpreter. There is no need to be afraid, and there is no need to force yourself to become the interpreter who can speak clearly and impeccably. No one is perfect. On the road to art, you and your children can start and learn together.

Secondly, what you have to do is to understand the child and understand what the child sees. Therefore, put down your body, lower your posture, communicate with children on an equal footing, do not impose the knowledge we know on children, but give vivid responses to children's questions, and fully mobilize children's curiosity and enthusiasm for exploration.

Also, there is no need to pursue excessive perfection. Whether it is a child or a parent, only "ignorance" can lead to "exploration". You can use in-depth themes that you are familiar with, but don't do all the homework like cramming, and leave the suspense to start an exciting art journey with your children. Appreciating art does not require a complete view. It can be an accumulation of discoveries. Each "incomplete discovery" is also the motivation for further exploration next time.

Every tip is considerate and practical. Whether it is used on "talking art with children" or other things, it is feasible and effective in parenting. On the road, the suggestions in these tips can also give us inspiration.

The second part of "How to teach children about art" selects 29 classic works of art and analyzes them in a simple and in-depth manner guided by questions from children of different ages.

This form is very novel. From the perspective of children, we make rough distinctions between different age groups, combine the psychology and curiosity of children of different ages, ask different questions about these works of art, and then answer questions based on their questions. This is targeted, even if If our children don’t ask these questions, we can roughly guess what our children will think and how to guide them and communicate with them artistically.

Art freezes time and space and becomes the permanent present. These works of art come from different time and space, including Perugino's "The Marriage of the Virgin" in the 16th century, Michelangelo's "The Awakening Slave", Tintoretto's "Origin of the Galaxy", etc., and Nicolas Poussin in the 17th century. "Dancing to the Music of the God of Time", "The Invention of Painting" in the 18th century, and works by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Picasso and others in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Different people and children of different ages will make different discoveries and raise different questions when looking at each work of art. For example, one of my most unforgettable paintings is "The Problem We All Live With" ("The Problem We All Live With"), a work painted by the American painter Norman Rockwell in 1964. In this painting, position C is a little black girl in a white skirt. There are four adults walking in front and back. You can see the armbands of three of them, but their heads are not drawn, but we can see from their consistent faces. I can feel the solemnity in my steps.

This work tells the story of Ruby Bridges, the first black girl to attend a white school, being escorted to school by four U.S. Marshals. There are racially discriminatory graffiti and smashed tomatoes on the background wall, which are particularly conspicuous.

Children aged 8 to 10 will ask "Is this a true story?" The answer is given in the book, which is what we said above. Children will also ask "Who are the adults around here?" Although their heads cannot be seen, the words on the armbands they wear can tell that they are U.S. Marshals, black girls who should be free to go to school, Her journey to school was fraught with danger, so she had to go to school under the escort of federal police, and curses were written in capital letters on the walls, all of which exposed racial inequality in American society. The bright red tomato juice on the wall formed a strong contrast with Ruby Bridges' white dress. Someone threw tomatoes at Ruby, but Ruby was not hit and she still walked forward resolutely.

When discussing this painting with 11-13 year olds, we can talk about the historical background of when Norman created this painting. In 2011, then-President Obama requested to borrow this classic Rockwell painting to display at the White House. On July 15, 2011, at the White House, Obama stood pointing at the painting and said to the black woman next to him (Ruby Bridges, the prototype of the little girl in the painting): "It can be said that without your efforts, I would not be standing here today. Here, we can’t talk like this.”

Talking about art with children of different ages, to be honest, we can also hone our own appreciation of beauty like children. sensibility. People of different ages have different understandings of beauty, but the degree of thinking is different.

"How to Teach Children about Art" also comes with a separate volume of "Biographies of Artists", from which we can learn about artists, which is also an important part of our artistic experience, thus helping us better understand the lives of these artists. Experience the connection to his artistic style.