OK class, let’s all stop and gather round here. Is everyone here? ... Um ... Tony, ... are you going to join us?  
Come on ... all right then, .... Let’s take a look at this interesting painting, which belongs to a modern art style called cubism. 
It’s called ‘the Ladies of Avignon’. Now, what is the first thing you notice about this painting? ... Anyone? 
OK, then, let’s all look at it more carefully... Look here ... and here ... see the faces with the triangular noses? 
... The long ovals for faces and these small dashes for mouths? See? 
Well since the figures look as though they are made up of cubes and triangles, this style came to be known as Cubism. 
This painting was painted by the famous artist Picasso who uses geometric shapes to show what he is trying to paint.  
All right, we can move on now towards the window here ... OK, here we have something quite different. 
Everyone, look at this now ...  EVERYONE ... . Now, I’m sure you’ve all had dreams with all sorts of crazy things happening. 
Well, some people think this painting looks like something from a dream. Look at it. 
It’s an abstract painting by the Russian painter Marc Chagall, called ‘I and the Village’.  
What do you see? ... Of course, you can recognise some of the things in this painting, look ... a woman milking a cow here, ... 
or a man and a woman walking near a group of buildings right here, 
but how are the things in this painting arranged? Some of them are upside down like this here and some are much bigger than others. 
Some, like the woman milking the cow are in very strange places. This style of art is called Surrealism. 
Surrealist paintings are generally based on dreams. They are filled with objects we all know, which are painted to look strange or mysterious. 
Why did surrealists paint like this? 
Well, they hoped their odd paintings would make people look at things in a different way, ... change the way they felt about things. 
They thought that their paintings might stir up feelings in the back of people’s minds and make them think.
OK kids, ... moving on over here ... . OK ... Look at the paintings hanging on this wall over here. 
They are painted in a completely different style. Look at this one. Has anyone ever seen this painting before? 
It’s quite well-known ... No one? All right then, this painting, by a French artist called Claude Monet, is called ‘Water Lily Pond’. 
Monet’s paintings of water lilies are some of his most famous works and belong to a style of art called Impressionism. 
As you can see, the painting doesn’t have a lot of detail. 
If you stand close to it you will see a blurred image. If you stand at arm’s length from it, like this ... 
let’s all move back a bit ..., the blurred image turns into water lilies floating on the pond. 
See? Isn’t that amazing? The secret lies in the way the painter applies the paint. 
It’s painted as if the artist just took a quick look at what he was painting. 
Paintings in this style are usually outdoor scenes like landscapes and they’re painted to look like they are shimmering, see the water here?
OK, now, ... over here, at the end of the room everyone ... Now, when a work of art shows objects with almost all the exactness and detail of a modern photograph, we say it is realistic, and belongs to a style called Realism. 
Realistic works can be very powerful. 
When you look at them, they remind you of people, things or events in your own life. 
Here is a realistic painting that was painted by Nikiphoros Lytras, a Greek artist. 
Now, even if no one told you what the painting was about, it would be easy to imagine a story by looking at it. 
Don’t you think? And it probably doesn’t surprise you that the painting is called ‘Awaiting’. 
Realism began in the 18th century, but the greatest Realist era was in the mid-19th century. 
Most Realists were from France, but there were some famous American painters who were realists too.
Now, having seen all these paintings, let’s move on into the next room where we can ...