Writing about Art: What's the Mood? - Yale University Art Gallery

YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y A R T G A L L E R Y
Writing about Art: What’s the Mood?
This activity asks students to look closely at and think about the mood of a work of art through
discussion and analysis of its compositional elements. Students then articulate the mood of the work
by discussing the piece and generating a creative title.
Required Materials: paper, pencils, clipboards
Grade Level: 5–12
Subject Area Connections: language arts; visual arts
When discussing works of art, the term “mood” refers to the kind of emotion an object suggests to the viewer.
Step 1: Students choose a work of art to explore and discuss.
Looking Questions:
1. When you look at the artwork, does it make you feel calm, anxious, afraid, sad, happy, excited?
Describe what elements make you feel this way.
2. What types of colors, lines, textures, and shapes has the artist used?
Where do you see these elements?
3. How could you change the mood of this work?
How would the mood be altered if the color or subject were changed?
Step 2. Students create a title for the work of art that represents its mood.
Step 3. Students write an explanation for their title choice. The explanation should include at least
three examples of things they discovered in the painting that led them to create the title.

Frans Hals (Dutch, 1581/85–1666)
De Heer Bodolphe, 1643
Oil on canvas, 48 3/16 x 38 3/8 in. (122.4 x 97.5 cm)
Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, b.a. 1903
1961.18.23

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
The Night Café, 1888
Oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 36 1/4 in. (72.4 x 92.1 cm )
Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, b.a. 1903
1961.18.34

Kazimir Severonic Malevich (Russian, 1878–1935)
The Knife Grinder (Principle of Glittering), 1912–13
Oil on canvas, 31 5/16 x 31 5/16 in. (79.5 x 79.5 cm)
Gift of Collection Société Anonyme
1941.553