Museum Scavenger Hunt WebQuest

This is a WebQuest for middle school students.


Musee de Louvre, Paris, France

Introduction
Congratulations! Your entire class has been invited to one of the greatest art museums in the WORLD: the Louvre ! The Louvre is located in Paris, France and houses some of the world’s most famous works of art such as: DaVinci’s, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Jacques-Louis David’s, The Oath of the Horati, and Theodore Gericault’s, The Raft of the Medusa . The Louvre is a very accessible art museum, right in the heart of Paris and close to numerous metro stops. Entrance to the museum only costs 9 Euros (about 12 U.S. dollars) and it is open 9am-6pm. However, there is one problem with this museum… it is in FRANCE! Because of this small, unfortunate detail, we will be utilizing the Internet to explore the Louvre’s magnificent collection of work. The Louvre, like many other art museums has its permanent collection available for viewing online. This is a great resource for those of us who do not currently have the resources to travel overseas! In order to get the full experience of the museum website, students will be participating in an online museum scavenger hunt, to locate artwork in the Louvre that fits specified criteria.

Task
The goal of this WebQuest is to have students understand how to navigate the Louvre museum’s website. Students will also understand what a permanent collection is and what it means to have an exhibition. Throughout this scavenger hunt, students will be asked to find artwork that fits certain criteria – some of the criteria will be concrete whereas other may be more abstract and conceptual. Emphasis will be placed on utilizing key art terms and understanding of artwork. Students will work in pairs and must come up with a body of work that they can justify fits the scavenger hunt parameters.

Process
Once students have been divided into pairs, it is time to access the Internet!

First things first, we must travel to the Louvre, by visiting this link:
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=fr_FR
• click on the link at the top-right of the Louvre page that says ‘English’*

Now it is time to EXPLORE!

Art museums typically have a permanent collection that belongs to the museum and temporary exhibits that travel throughout various art museums in the world. The Musée du Louvre houses 35,000 works of art drawn from eight departments, displayed in over 60,000 square meters of exhibition space dedicated to the permanent collections. This is a lot of artwork!! There are many different ways you can choose to search for artwork on the Louvre’s website.

• Search artwork by collection
o Roll over the “collection” tab on the top-left of main page and go down to click on
“curatorial departments”
o On the overview page, notice that you can click on any of the eight curatorial
departments on the center-right of the page

• Search artwork by visual theme
o Roll over the “collection” tab on the top-left of the main page and go down to click on
“kaleidoscope”
o Click on any of the 25 visual themes

• Search artwork through the database
o Roll over the “collection” tab on the top-left of the main page and go down to click on
databases
o I would suggest using the “Atlas” database (it is in English and gives you the
opportunity to search all work previously displayed in the museum)

The museum also houses temporary exhibitions. Each season, the Louvre features a series of temporary exhibitions, each the result of the latest expert research. Some of these shows are more suitable for the general public, but in their conception they act as echoes, versions and counterpoints to the museum's collections.

• Search the current, past, and future exhibitions
o Roll over the “exhibitions” tab on the top-left of the main page and go down to click on
current, future, or past exhibitions

Finally, I would recommend trying out one of the many virtual tours you can take on the Louvre website. These virtual tours put you in the room with some of the work that you are studying. In these tours, you have the ability to look and move around as if you were in the museum itself! To take a virtual tour:

• Roll over the museum tab on the top-left of the main page, and go down to click on
“virtual tours”
• There are ten different departments in which tours are offered (located on the top left of
the page)
• Once you choose the department you would like to tour, you are given an opportunity to
also pick a specific room to browse
• Have fun!

With any remaining time, you are free to browse the remainder of the Louvre website. There is a wealth of information regarding the museum’s architecture and its gardens, as well as the history of the Louvre. Enjoy Paris!!

Scavenger Hunt Questions:

1. Find a sculpture that incorporates both portraiture and a narrative.
2. Find a sculpture that represents the qualities of “beauty” and “strength.”
3. Find a painting with a strong use of chiaroscuro.
4. Find an Italian painting created with tempera paint on wood panel.
5. Find a painting that utilizes perspective very well.
6. Find a drawing that has a strong use of shading.
7. Find a sculpture that you feel has a functional use as well as and aesthetic beauty.
8. Find an artwork of any medium that you feel is purely decorative.
9. Find a work of art that you think was used for rememberance: this could mean it was used
at a funeral, or to remember an event, or an important person.
10. Find one work of art that you really love, and tell me why!!

Evaluation
Students are to write down the information for each work of art they locate and save an image of the artwork to their computer desktop. After each scavenger hunt question is completed, the students will print out each image and type up their information for each question. Students will turn the completed work in to the teacher and be graded on accuracy and thoroughness of answers and participation in project – according to a rubric. Students will then present question number ten to the class (which work of art they really love and why.)

Conclusion
With the convenience of the Internet, it is now possible to visit any museum in the world! I hope that you enjoyed our virtual trip to Paris and I hope to see you in the beautiful city soon!

Check out these links to other museum websites and begin exploring art from all around the world!!
http://www.philamuseum.org/
http://www.moma.org/
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/index.html
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/
http://www.metmuseum.org/
http://www.museodelprado.es/
http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/uffizi/
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/