Art and Design · Year 5 · Threads and Narratives · Autumn Term

Using Colour to Show Feelings in Portraits

Exploring how artists use different colours, not just realistic ones, to express emotions and feelings in portraits, focusing on how colour choices impact mood.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS2: Art and Design - Painting and Colour Theory
• KS2: Art and Design - Expressive Use of Colour

About This Topic

In this topic, Year 5 students explore how artists use colour expressively in portraits to convey emotions, moving beyond realistic skin tones. They study examples where cool blues suggest calm or sadness, vibrant yellows energise joy, and muted greys evoke isolation. Students justify why an artist might paint a face green for envy, analyse how bright colours lift mood while dull ones weigh it down, and evaluate colour combinations' emotional impact. This aligns with KS2 Art and Design standards on painting, colour theory, and expressive techniques within the Threads and Narratives unit.

These activities build critical analysis, visual literacy, and empathy as students connect colour choices to narrative intent. They develop skills in articulating preferences and critiquing art, essential for artistic growth and cross-curricular links to PSHE emotions.

Active learning excels here through colour mixing, collaborative critiques, and personal portraiture. Students physically blend hues, apply them to faces, and discuss effects in pairs, making abstract colour-emotion links concrete. This hands-on approach fosters ownership, deepens retention, and encourages risk-taking in creative expression.

Key Questions

1. Justify why an artist might choose to paint a face in colours like blue or green to show a certain feeling.
2. Analyze how bright or dull colours can change the mood of a portrait.
3. Evaluate what emotions different colour combinations make you feel when looking at a portrait.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how specific colour choices, beyond realism, contribute to the emotional tone of a portrait.
• Compare the emotional impact of portraits using predominantly warm versus cool colour palettes.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of an artist's colour selection in conveying a particular feeling or narrative.
• Create a portrait using a non-realistic colour palette to express a chosen emotion.
• Justify colour decisions made in their own portraiture based on emotional intent.

Before You Start

Introduction to Primary and Secondary Colours

Why: Students need a foundational understanding of basic colour mixing before exploring expressive colour.

Observational Drawing of Faces

Why: Basic skills in drawing facial features are helpful for students to focus on colour rather than the drawing process itself.

Key Vocabulary

Hue	The pure colour itself, such as red, blue, or yellow, before any white, black, or grey is added.
Saturation	The intensity or purity of a colour. Highly saturated colours are vivid, while desaturated colours are dull or muted.
Value	The lightness or darkness of a colour. This refers to how much white or black is mixed into a hue.
Warm Colours	Colours like red, orange, and yellow that tend to evoke feelings of energy, happiness, or intensity.
Cool Colours	Colours like blue, green, and purple that often suggest calmness, sadness, or serenity.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Portraits must always use realistic skin colours.

What to Teach Instead

Artists choose symbolic colours to prioritise emotion over accuracy. Hands-on mixing activities let students experiment with alternatives on their own faces, revealing how non-realistic hues enhance expressiveness. Peer discussions reinforce this by comparing realistic versus emotional versions.

Common Misconception

Bright colours always show happiness, and dark ones always show sadness.

What to Teach Instead

Context and combination matter: bright reds can signal anger, dark blues calm. Colour palette workshops help students test assumptions through trial, while group critiques uncover nuances in real artworks.

Common Misconception

Everyone feels the same emotion from the same colour.

What to Teach Instead

Responses are personal and cultural. Self-portrait shares and evaluations highlight differences, building empathy. Active peer feedback turns individual views into class-wide understanding of subjectivity.

Active Learning Ideas

Gallery Walk: Expressive Portraits

Display 6-8 prints of portraits using emotional colours, such as Van Gogh's self-portraits or Frida Kahlo's works. Students circulate with clipboards, noting colours used and emotions evoked in 10 minutes. Pairs then share one observation and justify the artist's choice.

35 min·Pairs

Colour Mixing Workshop: Emotion Palettes

Provide primary paints and palettes. In small groups, students mix colours for five emotions: happy, sad, angry, calm, surprised. Test mixes on scrap paper, then paint simple face outlines to show mood shifts.

45 min·Small Groups

Self-Portrait Challenge: Mood in Colour

Students select a personal emotion and paint a self-portrait using non-realistic colours. They label choices and write a short justification. Follow with whole-class share-out where peers guess emotions and discuss.

50 min·Individual

Collaborative Critique: Peer Portraits

Pairs exchange self-portraits from previous activity. Each duo analyses colours, mood conveyed, and suggests one colour tweak for stronger emotion. Groups report findings to class for collective evaluation.

30 min·Pairs

Real-World Connections

• Graphic designers use colour psychology to create logos and branding that evoke specific emotions for companies, such as using bright blues for trust and reliability in a tech company's branding.
• Film directors and cinematographers carefully select colour grading for scenes to influence audience mood, for example, using desaturated, cool tones to create tension or unease in a thriller.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

Display two portraits of the same subject, one with realistic colours and one with expressive, non-realistic colours. Ask students: 'How does the artist's choice of colour change the feeling you get from the portrait? Point to specific areas and explain your reasoning.'

Quick Check

Provide students with a limited palette of paint colours (e.g., blue, yellow, red, black, white). Ask them to quickly paint a small circle that expresses 'excitement' and another that expresses 'calm'. Have them hold up their circles and briefly explain their colour choices.

Exit Ticket

Students write on an index card: 'One colour I might use to paint a portrait showing happiness is ____ because ____. One colour I might use to paint a portrait showing worry is ____ because ____.'

Frequently Asked Questions

How do artists use non-realistic colours in portraits for Year 5 art?

Artists select hues like blue for melancholy or green for jealousy to amplify emotions, as in Edvard Munch's works. Students justify choices by linking colour properties, such as cool tones calming viewers, to mood. This teaches colour theory while analysing how palettes shift portrait narratives, meeting KS2 expressive standards.

What are examples of famous portraits using colour for feelings?

Van Gogh's 'Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear' uses swirling blues and greens for turmoil. Frida Kahlo's portraits blend vivid reds and yellows for pain and resilience. Picasso's blue period evokes despair through monochromatic cools. Students replicate these in activities to grasp intent, fostering evaluation skills.

How can active learning help teach colour and emotion in portraits?

Active methods like mixing emotion palettes and painting self-portraits give direct experience with colour effects. Small-group critiques build analysis through sharing justifications, while gallery walks encourage observation. These tactile, collaborative steps make abstract theory personal, boost engagement, and improve retention over passive viewing.

How to assess expressive colour use in Year 5 portraits?

Use rubrics scoring colour choice relevance to emotion, justification clarity, and mood impact. Peer evaluations add feedback on effectiveness. Portfolios with reflections show growth. Observe discussions for analysis skills, aligning with KS2 standards on evaluating art.