Art Museum Trip: Seeing A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

Today is Sunday. My class is visiting the art museum today. We’re going to enjoy a beautiful painting called 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte'. It shows a park in France. We’ve seen pictures of the painting at school. But now we’ll see the real thing. 'Later, we’ll paint our own neighborhood,' Ms Kattan says.

I stop smiling because I think there is nothing to paint. The rubbish and old buildings are everywhere in the neighborhood.

I’ve never been inside the museum. It’s quiet, like a library. Finally, we reach the place where we can see the painting. And we look forward to the painting we used to see.

'This picture is made with tiny dots (点) of paint,' Ms Kattan tells us. 'This way of painting is called pointillism (点彩画法)'.

I call it magic, putting all those small dots close together to show one small shining place. I lose myself in the painting deeply. I lie in the soft grass, touch a pet dog, and put my feet into the water. I even hold an umbrella, like one of those ladies in that park.

But when Ms Kattan tells us to draw our own paintings, I return to the real world. 'What’s wrong? she asked. 'This park doesn’t look like where I live,' I say. Ms Kattan smiles, 'When you’re the artist, you decide what people see.'

I look at a man in the painting and then I remind myself of Poppa G, who sells ice pops! Suddenly, I know what to paint. At school, I dab (涂) colors for the sun and the sky. I dab kids playing basketball and racing bikes. I dab workers eating lunch and people sharing dreams.

'Beautiful,' Ms Kattan says. But I will not finish it until I don’t set myself in the scene (情景). I call my painting 'A Sunny Day on Sia’s Street'.