Untitled
Christ the King Catholic High School, Year 10
Acrylic paint on canvas board
Students from Christ the King School in Preston have been exploring themes of identity and symbolism. Prior to their visit to the Courtauld Gallery, each student provided images of objects representing aspects of their identity, which were collaged digitally into a collective self-portrait. During their subsequent visit to the Courtauld Gallery, the class spent the morning engaging with works in the collection and, focusing on Vincent van Gogh’s self-portrait, thinking critically about what objects, clothing and backgrounds in portraits can tell the viewer. In the afternoon, they experimented with Van Gogh’s bold use of thick impasto brushstrokes to paint a tiled version of their collective self-portrait.