I love this drawing which shows a dreamlike, moody stillness, creating an atmosphere with floating figures in sky, using different groups in dark, sketchy charcoal. The groups of figures – what are they doing, where are they going? It’s a dream journey, figures walking and flying through a dream landscape (this could be supportive by a piece of creative writing of an imaginative metaphorical journey).

The class can take photographs of different groups posed in long landscape style along school corridor, school playground or games field. Dramas and interactions can be planned and built into image and posed using group suggestions. Other examples of the work of Puvis de Chevannes can be seen at the Barber Institute at Birmingham University.

Explore how Goya makes the image ‘grotesque’ using the lighting and the pose. Pupils could try to recreate the pose and the dramatic lighting and photograph their own version (possibly also creating an updated contemporary dance version of the image). Pupils could also photograph or film the moving shadows created as a more abstract composition – and create drawings with threatening or unusual shadows or possibly explore lighting/film techniques of horror films.

Create a mood with lighting in space – possibly follow-up internet to find other images.

A more intimate world of fantasy with very little content – she looks as if she has just put her book down and with a dreamy expression on her face shows she has been transported into the story. Follow-up with internet searches, visits to see Rossetti in Birmingham or pupils recreating quiet, intimate photographic portraits of a friend involved in hobbies or interests. Produce cartoons based on daydreams – visualise internal feelings externally in comic strip style.

Use the smudginess of pastel, charcoal or pencil to get a soft, dreamy quality. Investigate other pictures by Burne-Jones – useful for multiple group set-ups.

Discuss this painting in which the artist is looking down on his daughter who is sitting in a battered, leatherette chair. The view point, the position on the canvas and the battered character adds tension to the picture that may reflect their relationship – Freud uses decaying objects (the chair with the stuffing oozing out) which build a relationship within the pictures with the characters in a metaphorical sense.

This royal stool symbolised the prestige, confidence and authority and the link with royal ancestors. It is carved from a single section of timber and shows a leopard flanked by two royal attendants. The leopard was a symbol of power and leadership and closely associated with kingship. Pupils could be asked to design a chair that would contain images that would suggest their skills and interests and contain recognisable images (e.g. a pencil, a mobile phone).

He took his sketchbook to Venice several times to produce observation drawings of famous landmarks. These were some of his most lucrative sales areas, finding a ready market amongst people who found Venice or the idea of Venice very attractive and romantic. (His other work included paintings based on Jack the Ripper, British music hall scenes and some portraits). This painting shows the use of art as a record of places visited.

This shows ‘journeys’ used as a decorative motif which is not so much realistic but rather more symbolic. This more abstract way of showing journeys could be investigated (e.g. through Aboriginal paintings).

How artists represent journeys – a quick sketch of a scene. This quality of sketchiness adds to the feeling of movement and speed. Pupils could be asked to produce short (10 second?) drawings of people moving across the room in hasty, rough outlines or one minute drawings of pupils posed ironing.

These pictures show images of bridges, rivers, canals, scenes of far-away places and journeys for both consumer goods and food. These can be combined in a decorative way in various media.

The ideas of journeys for leisure (draw boats outside gallery), the journey of corn or coal, the journey into the city or countryside may be considered.