On Thursday 29 October, Year 9 students visited the Art Gallery of South Australia to experience the Monet to Matisse exhibition. Standing in front of original artworks, close enough to see the brushstrokes and mark making that students hear about so often in art lessons, was truly inspirational.

It is a privilege to experience these artworks in person. The exhibition proved to be a wonderful starting point for conversations about pivotal moments in art history, when artists broke away from realism and traditionally accepted ideas of beauty in favour of creative freedom. Students explored the Impressionists, who were rejected by the Paris Salon, before moving through Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and Constructivism, to the Neoplasticism of Piet Mondrian and the dreamlike worlds of Surrealism. These conversations also helped students to trace how we have arrived at the contemporary art world of installation and conceptual art.

I am sure that these discussions will continue in our art lessons and we returned to school with students who are inspired and eager to paint.

Sarika Khurana – Creative arts Teacher