The Glasgow School of Art

Expressionism as an artistic movement started with three key artists. Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch were all masters of psychological portraiture; their art was full of feeling as well as intense looking.  This ten-week course will explore the emotional nature of portraiture where students will be introduced to the dialogue between accuracy of observation and intentional visual distortion. The aim in the lessons will be to create images of the sitter that achieve a balance between external appearance and psychological truth. To produce portraits that are more than a mere “photographic” likeness, the language of art must be engaged in. Students will, therefore, learn about drawing and painting methods that are about interpretation and so a means of rendering a personality that goes beyond superficial appearance. The visual elements of line, shape, colour and texture will be developed as a visual language as students discover a range of strategies and techniques which will enable them to translate what they observe into emotional images. Each lesson will open with an introduction to different media and materials appropriate to specific purposes and intentions. Students will learn how to exploit the qualities and potential of these materials and tools. Incorporated in the opening instructions will be hand-outs of bullet-points and of different Expressionist Masters relevant to the tasks. 

This course is suitable for students with some experience of Portraiture or Life Drawing and Painting.       

How to Book
Click ‘Book Now’ to be transferred to our booking site, where you will find detailed information on this course, including dates and times, materials required and instructions on how to pay for your place.    

If you are a senior citizen in receipt of a state pension, unemployed or a full time FE or HE student, the discounted fee as stated in the course description is applicable. To benefit from the discounted fee, enter the code “AW23-24”’ in the Promotion Code box when booking.  Please note we cannot add discount codes retrospectively, the discount code must be added during the booking process to receive the discounted price. You will then be required to email a scanned copy of evidence of your status to open-studio@gsa.ac.uk