Living Pictures
A living picture (tableau vivant in Italian) is also referred to as a frozen picture or tableau. The basic idea is to have a group create a frozen scene and then have others interact with that scene. For example, let's say that the children are learning about the American Revolution. A group could re-create a scene depicting Washington crossing the Delaware, after the famous painting. Even though tableau or living pictures have been associated through history with famous paintings, they don't have to be about the paintings but can simply depict a historical or fictional event (working with literature, for example). In all cases, though, the students create a frozen picture. Then, the other children discuss and interact with the picture in a variety of ways, including any of the following (or more):
The video below is of a professional group of performers recreating paintings by Caravaggio. The video after that is of the use of tableau in an elementary classroom.
- Discuss what is in the image and try to guess what it is.
- Ask individuals in the scene about what they are doing or feeling. This can be fun if the participants answer as the characters in the scene.
- Let other children join the scene. They could explain why they chose to join the scene in the way that they did.
- Treat this like a living museum where each character in the scene takes a turn explaining what they are doing and feeling.
- Have multiple groups create the same scene. Compare and contrast.
- Use this activity as a formative assessment to see what the children understand about a topic.
- Use this activity as a way for groups to report on what they learned about the topic.
- Use scenes from art, movies, literature, history, science, or pretty much anything.
The video below is of a professional group of performers recreating paintings by Caravaggio. The video after that is of the use of tableau in an elementary classroom.