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Practice perspective-taking with this collaborative creative writing activity. 

The German modernist Max Beckmann painted Les artistes mit Gemüse (Artists with Vegetable) in 1943 while living in exile in Nazi-occupied Holland after leaving Germany in 1937. Beckmann depicts himself in the lower right corner together with three fellow exile artists and intellectuals gathered around a small table, each holding a mysterious object. Each object functions like an attribute, revealing something symbolic about the person with which it is associated. While the objects highlight the figures’ individuality, their shared experience of exile also establishes a sense of community. After looking closely at the painting and discussing what you notice, create a group poem in response to the artwork that considers the different experiences of the figures. 

• Index cards 
• Pencils 

• Ask everyone in the group to write down a one-word response to the artwork on an index card. The one-word response can be a detail that stands out, an emotion the artwork evokes, or an association that comes to mind. 
• Gather the index cards and read the words aloud, discussing similarities and differences in people’s responses to the artwork. Invite people to elaborate on what they noticed in the artwork that shaped their response. 
• After discussing different responses, ask everyone to pick an index card with a one-word response that they did not originally write. 
• On the card’s reverse, write one line from the perspective of a figure in the artwork that incorporates the chosen word. 
• Divide into small groups of three to six people. Share your lines and arrange them to form a group poem, deciding together on the beginning, middle, and end. 
• Have each group read aloud their poem. 

What was it like writing a poem as a group?  

Did anything surprise you?