Museum After Hours | B2 Art, Invitations and What a Picture Shows

NeuroEnglish for You! · Description, interpretation and museum plans

Museum After Hours

B2 Art, Invitations and What a Picture Shows · 30–45 minutes

Plan an exhibition visit and describe art precisely. A visible feature, an interpretation and an attribution answer different questions.

PRIME · Activa lo que sabes

Mira una imagen: di algo visible y después una interpretación. ¿Cuál requiere más justificación?

Read & listenPractiseReadings & resources25-word game

Read, listen and notice

Pasa el ratón, toca una frase o usa Tab y Enter para ver la traducción. El audio utiliza las voces de tu dispositivo y se activa solo al pulsar Escuchar.

English · Voz del dispositivo

The curator places a portrait beside an abstract painting.La comisaria coloca un retrato junto a una pintura abstracta.

In the portrait, a chair appears in the foreground.En el retrato aparece una silla en primer plano.

The blue background may evoke a quiet atmosphere for one viewer.El fondo azul puede evocar una atmósfera tranquila para un espectador.

That response is an interpretation rather than proof of the artist’s intention.Esa respuesta es una interpretación, no una prueba de la intención del artista.

Would you like me to book a ticket for the exhibition?¿Quieres que reserve una entrada para la exposición?

I would prefer to go later, although I can meet you at six.Preferiría ir más tarde, aunque puedo quedar contigo a las seis.

Reading detective · Find the evidence

Answer in your own words. Identify the sentence that supports your answer before checking the model.

1. What is visible in the foreground?

Your answer

Model answer

A chair.

2. Why does may evoke matter?

Your answer

Model answer

It allows for a response without claiming that every viewer feels the same or that the artist intended it.

Grammar workshop · Retrieve the pattern

1. Would you like me ___ book a ticket?

Answer

Model and reason

to — Would like + objeto + to-infinitivo.

2. I would prefer ___ go later.

Answer

Model and reason

to — Prefer to + infinitivo.

3. The painting may ___ (evoke) a quiet atmosphere.

Answer

Model and reason

evoke — May + infinitivo sin to.

Speak, write and transfer

Planifica una exposición ficticia; justifica la selección de obras y distingue descripción formal, interpretación y atribución.

Usa al menos cinco palabras del banco del juego. Planifica sin escribir frases completas, habla durante un minuto y luego redacta tu versión. Comprueba si otra persona entiende la idea, los tiempos y los conectores.

NEUROTIP · Recuerda antes de releer

Tapa los modelos, recupera tres expresiones y crea un ejemplo nuevo. Compara tu respuesta con el modelo solo después del intento. Mañana, vuelve a probar las palabras que hayas señalado.

Readings & resources

Reading lens

The museum arrangement is fictional. Ticket prices and exhibition schedules must be checked with the museum. Description, interpretation and attribution should not be merged. Picasso’s final visit to Spain was in 1934; Franco’s dictatorship began later, so avoid wording that places it in 1934.

Buenas tardes, estimados alumnos.

Comenzamos una serie de ejercicios dedicados a revisar los puntos principales del programa del curso.

Hoy toca: Arts, museums and culture.

Nota: Los textos están seleccionados tanto del programa CREA como de otras fuentes, a quienes doy las gracias y cito, pero todos tienen el nivel del curso.

Texto nº 1:

Do you want me to get your ticket?

Joe: So,what shall we do today?

Peter: I’d like to go to the video games exhibition at the MOMA*.

Joe: Oh, no, I don’t fancy that.

Peter: Oh, go on. I really want to see it. There's Pac-Man and Space Invaders. And I’d love you to come with me.

Joe: Oh, alright. How much is it?

Peter: Let me check on internet. Right, it’s $8, but there's a discount for pensioners -only $5.

Joe: I’d prefer it if we went a bit later, at 6 o’clock.

Peter: Great, I’ll see you there at 6. Do you want me to get you your ticket?

Joe: OK, and I’ll pay for pizza afterwards.

Peter: See you there.

*MOMA: Museum of Modern Art

Texto nº 2:

Imagen en Flickr de moriza bajo CC

A: What are you up to?

B: Nothing much. I'm bored.

A: Well, let's do something fun. What about going to the swimming pool?

B: No, that's too tiring.

A: OK, I know, let's go to the cinema.There's a new film, Tarantula. It's supposed to be really frightening.

B: Too frightening, I heard. Mary said she was scared to death. Anyway, I haven't got any money.

A: You're not exactly being very positive, are you?

B: Well, sorry,it's just so boring here.

A: Well, let's do something fun then!

https://stacker.com/stories/12763/pablo-picasso-life-story-you-may-not-know

Texto nº 3:

Pablo Picasso: The life story you may not know

Pablo Picasso was an unrivaled titan of 20th-century art. He influenced and collaborated with such fellow creative geniuses as Henri Matisse and Georges Braque, and the works of his Blue Period and his Rose Period are familiar to even the most casual museum-goer.

In politics, Picasso took an unwavering stand against fascism in his homeland. Picasso visited Spain for the last time in 1934. He later opposed Franco’s dictatorship and did not return to Spain. In joining the French Communist Party, he declared: “I have always been an exile, now I am one no longer; until the time when Spain may finally receive me, the French Communist Party has opened its arms to me.”

His giant masterpiece “Guernica” makes a stronger case against war than many a written word or argument. Less well known is Picasso’s poetry, an art form in which he immersed himself before the Spanish Civil War broke out and so deeply affected him. He penned plays as well, and he created stage sets and wardrobe costumes for ballet productions in Paris.

With so many facets to Picasso’s enormous creativity and profound influence, Stacker compiled a list of events and facts from his life that you may not know, drawing from historical chronicles, museum archives, biographies, and articles in the media.

Saludos y nos veremos la próxima semana, Dios mediante.

Sources & further reading

• Musée Picasso Paris · Timeline

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B2 · Final vocabulary game · 25 palabras y expresiones

Museum After Hours

Estudia las palabras en contexto y revisa el banco. Después ciérralo e intenta recuperarlas. El orden cambia en cada partida. Puedes usar pistas y volver a practicar las palabras señaladas.

Banco de estudio · 25 parejas

exhibition

exposición

curator

comisario de una exposición

collection

colección

portrait

retrato

landscape

paisaje pictórico

sculpture

escultura

canvas

lienzo

brushstroke

pincelada

composition

composición artística

foreground

primer plano

background

fondo de una imagen

perspective

perspectiva visual

texture

textura

shade

tono de color

contrast

contraste

abstract

abstracto

figurative

figurativo

interpretation

interpretación

attribution

atribución de autoría

authenticity

autenticidad

masterpiece

obra maestra

installation

instalación artística

display

exhibir

depict

representar visualmente

evoke

evocar

Listo para empezar. Sin cuenta atrás ni penalización por tardar.

El reto aparece aquí al pulsar Empezar.

Transfer · Más allá del marcador

Planifica una exposición ficticia; justifica la selección de obras y distingue descripción formal, interpretación y atribución.

Al terminar, utiliza tres palabras en un ejemplo nuevo y recupéralas de nuevo mañana. Este juego no guarda ni envía tus respuestas.