Vincent Van Gogh

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch artist whose painting style is known as Post-Impressionism. This style of painting includes vivid colors and a lot of paint! The subjects of Van Gogh’s paintings are real people and objects. Much of his work contains swirling brushstrokes, which might show his mood and state of mind.

Van Gogh was troubled by mental illness during his short life, and one of the best known stories about him is that he cut off his own ear. While this did occur, it was probably not on purpose. Van Gogh may have suffered from epilepsy, and it is possible that he accidentally cut off part of his ear lobe during a seizure.

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