The art, Spanish and French students travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a field trip on March 19 and explored the world of art history.

The three groups consisted of 80 students who were chaperoned by art teacher Wesley Myers, electronic arts teacher Wade Bowers, elementary art teacher Angela Reisinger, French language teacher Stephanie Myers, Spanish language teacher Nicholas Schiffgens and Spanish language teacher Heather Walker.

While touring the museum, the students witnessed exhibits such as American Art, Arms and Armour, Asian art, various European Art exhibits, Modern and Contemporary art and more.

The French students were given a brief period of free time where they could walk through the entire museum and look at exhibits they wished to see.

Then the French students were taken on a tour of the museum where they saw the American Art, Post-impressionism and European Art exhibits.

The Art students began their tour which was titled, “Artists and Society.”

On this tour, they saw modern paintings, medieval armour and paintings, Chinese tomb sculptures, American art and French architecture.

Throughout the tour, the main discussion was how “society and location influenced the artwork, whether is was war, peace, love. Whatever it was that was happening in society during that time influenced the people to create the art they did,” according to Myers.

The Spanish students went on their tour, which was not titled, but it geared more towards Spanish culture. The Spanish students began with looking at work made by Francisco de Zurbarán, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera and Joan Miro.

“Our guide took us through the different styles of art and what inspired the artists during their time.  The biggest take away from the tour is that the early painters (Zurbarán) tried to paint as lifelike as possible,” said Schiffgens.  “By the 1900s, painters were taking artistic leaps and started to paint their dreams and incorporate their feelings into their work. Rivera is known for his wall murals, commissioned in Mexico, that represent the commoner of Mexico.  Again, this is a big change from most Spanish painters that would paint religious subjects or keep their images of wealth elites that commissioned the works.”

Junior Keely Coyle enjoyed the learning experience.

“I would recommend it,” said Coyle. “The museum is very interesting if you are passionate about art or want to learn more. The market is also fun. There are different food items you can get that you can’t find easily around here.”

The students concluded their trip with lunch at the Reading Terminal Market.