Lenbachhaus

In Munich, Germany there is an art gallery called Lenbachhaus. Lenbachhaus is an interesting museum to visit from an elementary mathematics perspective. It is a pale orange colored Florentine style villa that belonged to a German artist named Franz von Lenbach.Most of the villa is filled with paintings by artists associated with Munich. One Russian born artist named Wassily Kandinsky lived in Munich for about 20 years around the 1890’s- 1920’s. During this time he, along with several other Munich based artists, created an artist group called “The Blue Rider” group. The art pieces on display on the third floor of the museum are all by the painters from “The Blue Rider” group; especially Kandinsky. When I entered the third floor my eyes were drawn to a painting called “Impromptu.” I immediately knew it was by Kandinsky because it reminded me of the painting we studied in math class.

       Kandisnsky’s painting “Upward,” pictured above, served as a launching point for math penpals across the Andover school district last year. One of Andover’s math goals was to increase dialogue about mathematics. One way to achieve this was by creating a penpal exchange where students wrote letters to one another about a current topic, concept or math problem. Many 4th and 5th graders wrote back and forth to each other about their math learning. The opening letter was about math noticings in the “Upward” painting. This was a meaningful exchange for a couple of reasons.

        First, student awareness increased. They became great at the detective work of finding geometry and decimals and more in the painting. After that, they learned how and what to say to share ideas. Students became good observers who recorded their observations without reservation. One student wrote : “I see not 1, not 2, but 3 pairs of parallel lines in this painting.” A response to this was “I see the same things you see. I also see many colors I like like pink, blue, yellow, orange and black. (Now let me share a different math problem with you.”) The positive approach and genuine excitement conveyed in the student writing led to another meaningful connection.

        As students shared math ideas and problems with one another it made them curious. They wanted to meet their math penpal in person.Since Andover has townwide events we were able to do this at the all town track and field day. Many reported that meeting their pen pal was a valuable part of their track and field day experience. Beyond creating a greater feeling of belonging, the Kandinsky painting is an evidence based practice.

       Many of the new math curriculum programs like the Eureka Math Squared published by Great Minds and the Innovomat program in Spain include math and art connections like the Kandinsky painting. Kandinsky himself believed in connections between the senses. The phenomenon he was speaking of is called “synaesthesia” According to museum descriptions, Kandinsky felt that when you stimulate one sense it leads to the stimulation of another. For Kandisky, colors in paintings triggered sounds in his head that created a symphony. I wonder if the student writer who liked the colors in “Upward” felt the same way. Or, does knowing art help students learn math?

       Either way, the math penpal exchange students in Andover helped me to enjoy the Lenbachhaus museum from a math lens. It also inspires me to continue and expand the math pen pal exchange from across the district to across the world. If you know a class or school who might be interested please let me know at amyworld2math@gmail.com