Implementation of ‘Op art with Victor Vasarely’ (SOI-HR-172)

I had an idea to introduce the Croatian painter Juraj Dobrovic to my students taking them to an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek and this learning scenario suited this occasion very well. I adapted it to 18-year-old students and implemented it in two teaching hours. The first part of the activity took place in the museum and the second part was done in the classroom.

A moment of learning at the museum

In the museum, students could use their senses to explore another world in direct contact with art pieces. I change the classroom environment for the museum very often to get students interacting with works of art. With the help of an expert guide and the museum educator, the students became acquainted with the work of Juraj Dobrović and the stylistic characteristics of op-art. Students stopped by the individual works, answering the questions: How is this effect created? What shape do you see? What technique does the artist use? Is this work static or dynamic? At the end of the tour, students answered the quiz questions in the Wordwall app using QR code.  

A different interpretation of op art

By showing the video that included the works of another painter – Victor Vasarely – I introduced the students to the different ways of creating op art. Students remembered visually experiencing and recognizing elements of op art at the museum when they were observing Juraj Dobrovic’s works. They realized the power of using lines and shapes to create an optical illusion.

Exploring Europeana

In order to stimulate different abilities of the students during the lesson, I divided them into groups. The students were extremely engaged and approached the task with great interest. They explored Victor Vasarely’s artworks on Europeana web portal, using prepared QR codes. Then, they compared the works of Juraj Dobrovic and Victor Vasarely. By looking at the artworks, students also took into account the context and the time when these works were created.

All about optical illusions

On the basis of the researched works, the students interpreted their experience regarding optical illusions. They were able to choose the colour of the felt-tip pen and most of the students used the black one. They created the illusions using shapes of their choice. They were very pleased with their creative works and with the process of drawing. My students worked in pairs and conducted peer evaluation. They were given a rubric at the beginning of the lesson to know what is expected from them. They were quite critical towards each other, which opened new discussions.

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario:

Op art with Victor Vasarely by Marica Jurec

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CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.