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Days Out With Bella: National Gallery



We had a really lovely day at the National Gallery looking at all of the beautiful images. So, it was only right for us to share some of what we saw. This is another picture heavy blog post, but I hope that you enjoy looking at the images as much as we did!


The Virgin with the infant Christ


The Nativity


The Coronotaion of the Virgin


Whistlejacket by George Stubbs


Irises by Claude Monet


Here we stopped for a quick selfie!


The Water-Lily Pond by Claude Monet


Blue Pacific by Arthur Streeton


The Louvre Under Snow by Camille Pissarro


Farms Near Auvers by Van Gogh


Sunflowers by Van Gogh


Snow scene et Argenteuil by Claude Monet


Lavacourt under snow by Claude Monet


The Thames below Westminster by Claude Monet


The museum at Le Havre by Claude Monet


Winter Landscape by Caspar David Friedrich


Still life with fruit and flowers 'probably by Pierre Andrieu'


Lilac by Otto Franz Scholderer


Flowers in a terracotta vase by Jan Van Huysum



Hornbill School, 5-11 year olds.

Children drew simple self-portraits showing them walking to the left.


Harlands Primary School, 5-6 year olds.

They studied the painting as a class and the children were encouraged to explore what they found interesting.



Kenmont Primary School, 7-8 year olds.

Year 3 discussed the procession in the painting and the triumphs of the Romans in Great Britain and London. As a result they made a Concertina book.


Pooles Park Primary School, 9-10 year olds.

Year 5 based their project on the theme of movement. This stemmed from writing poetry about the characters in the painting using verbs to describe how they moved.


Kenmont Primary School, 3-4 year olds.

Children were interested in the elephants. They observed elephants from pictures and film.


Moreton Hall School, 7-8 year olds.

Year 3 focused on the elephants feet at the bottom of the painting and took photographs of the elephants at Chester Zoo.


Isabella-Grace appeared to enjoy looking at the paintings with great interest. She was extremely fascinated by the Whistlejacket painting of the racehorse. Isabella-Grace is very fond of animals, so it was only natural that this painting captivated her. As we walked around the gallery she was able to identify a few familiar things, such as horse, elephant and she named some fruit from the fruit painting. I spoke to her about some of the paintings, for example we discussed the size of the horse. It is important to me that as we visit different places, Bella gains knowledge from each visit. Whether it is by describing the colours used or discussing shapes. It is essential for her to be actively involved, so that she feels that she is gaining something as well as having an enjoyable day out.



I loved most of the paintings that we saw, but the ones above are all favourites for me. I was particularly fond of Monet’s work because his paintings bring you on a journey. Even if you were not physically there, just by looking at paintings such as The Museum at Le Havre and Snow Scene at Argenteuil you can almost envision being there. I liked his paintings Irises and The Water-Lily Pond also, I believe he used the palette very well to recreate what he was perceiving. It is said that the irises grew along the path near the water-lily pond in his garden. Monet painted a huge quantity of his art in the gardens of his home in Giverny for more than 30 years.


The last place we visited in the gallery was the children’s artwork and I must say that we were really impressed. The children did a phenomenal job! Bella was taken by the Concertina book and even tried to reach for it because she recognised it was a book and wanted to look at it. Their use of tools and colour was really remarkable. They have very creative imaginations and it just shows if you give a child some resources they can create a masterpiece.

Have you ever been to the National Gallery? What were your favourite paintings?

With Love,

Roxanne-Sasha

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