By Fabiola and Lucila

They chose Vincent Van Gogh to work with. Here's something about the painter and his portrait.

Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 van Gogh went to Paris and he began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.

This is the painting they used for their story:

Here's the story for you to read and enjoy!!!

A beautiful love story
Olivia Van Allen is wondering around the wharf while the sun is disappearing on the horizon and its rays are reflecting off the water. She has been waiting for Henry for an hour gazing anxiously at the sea. She is the only daughter of Mr. Van Allen, a highly respected priest of Bridlington. She loves her father but sometimes his views hurt her feelings. Lost in her thoughts, she can see Henry´s boat about a mile from the shore. Henry Digory is a young fisherman. He is the boy of her dreams and with his cheerful smile and warm blue eyes reflects his true love for her.
Henry has been Olivia´s lover for a year and she was very much in love with him. She kept the secret of their love during that year. However, her father discovered them and everything changed in her life. Refusing to listen to all her pleas, Mr. Van Allen forced her to get engaged to Edward Collins, a major figure in the local politics. Olivia was not allowed to see Henry any more. The happy days have gone for her and they were replaced by a deep melancholy full of despair. Even though her father forbade them to see each other, she was unwilling to surrender to his command. Thus, they decided to meet each other every night so as to continue their clandestine relationship.
An hour later as the night was falling Henry arrives at the wharf. He takes a look around to make sure that there is no one else apart from Olivia and him before he gets closer to her. As they are hugging each other they hear a noise as if someone was clearing his throat.
A tall figure with broad shoulders walks towards them from the dark and stands facing them. It´s Edward Collins with a cruel and sinister smile on his face. He opens his coat with his right hand and let them see a gun. Henry, who was shocked, realizes his bad intentions and jumps over him. During some terrifying seconds, Olivia is watches how he two men struggle for the possession of the gun when unexpectedly a short is fired.Olivia flies to them shouting hysterically and kneels down. None of them moves for a while and then Henry pushes Edward´s body aside with all his strength. She looks at him immensely relieved when she notices that he is out of danger. However, Edward keeps still on the ground with a gunshot wound on his chest. Olivia and Henry stay there for half an hour starring at the deceased in astonishment. Finally without a shadow of doubt, he takes her hand, boards his boat and sails across the river.

Photos taken in the class.