Teachers’ notes

The Superpower of Looking:
J. M. W. Turner’s steam train

How to use this resource

In class, open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.

Use the prompts in these notes to guide your students through the lesson.

Contextual background for teachers

Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway (1844)

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)

H 91 x W 121.8 cm

The National Gallery, London

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/rain-steam-and-speed-the-great-western-railway-115073

This is one of J. M. W. Turner's masterpieces, in which all the elements of water, land and sky seem to fuse in a haze of painterly brushwork. This foggy, natural atmosphere is cut through on a sharp diagonal by a man-made train. What is Turner saying about the role of this steel locomotion in the midst of nature's fields and waterways? Can you spot the tiny boat on the left and the ploughman and his labourers on the right? Can you spot the tiny hare? Before the arrival of the train – a symbol of industrialisation – a hare would have been considered very fast.

Do Turner's loose, painterly brushstrokes help to create this distinctive atmosphere? Is the scene a depiction of what he saw or what he felt? It is likely to be a combination of his memory and imagination.

Look, describe and discuss

You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.

Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It’s best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.

Nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

What draws your attention most in this painting? Why?

What modes of transport can be seen in the painting? Where might they be headed? How fast are they going?

What kind of noises could you hear?

Look at the title. How important is weather to this scene? What's the weather like? Would you need a raincoat or a sun hat?

What effect does steam have on our ability to see things clearly?

Questions from The Superpower of Looking Kit

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting. Use The Superpower of Looking Kit to ask questions about the artwork. For this artwork, you will focus on composition (e.g. movement), line and colour.

Ask your students to evidence their points:

Where exactly are they looking when they make a statement?

Can everybody see what they see?

Slow down, take time to really look closely

You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers at this point.

Everyone learning

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.

Make

In sketchbooks, draw around the original picture and continue the painting outside the picture frame. Will students expand the train journey or will they draw the train’s destination?

Use chalks on dark paper to create a misty and smoke-filled scene such as Turner's.

Listen

Watch and listen to some of this video of steam trains at speed.

After listening to real steam trains, you may wish to quieten things down and calm the classroom with this five-minute meditation from The National Gallery which focuses on the painting.

Touch

Make a collection of toy trains and use items such as metal and cogs for the students to feel.

Move

Explore moving like a train.

Communicate

In small groups, task your students with using vocals (e.g. singing, beatboxing) and body percussion (e.g. clapping, drumming of fingertips) to create a soundtrack that evokes Rain, Steam and Speed. How will they depict the wind and rain? And the noises of the engine and the train chugging along the track? Ask each group to take a turn to perform their piece and feedback as a group.

Alternatively, use musical instruments to create the soundtrack for the painting as a whole class. Untuned percussion would work particularly well such as rain sticks and cymbals, but you may wish to include other instruments you have available.

Learn the Makaton sign or British Sign Language for ‘train’.

Final stage: review

Ask your students to:

share their sketchbooks in groups and discuss the 'elements' they have identified

choose an element/aspect they find most interesting about the artwork and record it in their sketchbooks

choose their own name/s for the title of the artwork

think of a question they would like to ask the artist

Congratulations!

You have now completed The Superpower of Looking lesson resource.

There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look in the ‘next lessons’ section below.

Next lessons

Now try these other lesson resources as part of the landscapes theme:

Rubens and his love of the landscape

A block of flats as art

Surprised by a tiger!

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Shore Family

2023-09-04T11:22:00Z

Jennie Thornber