THE next generation of Vincent van Gogh’s and Pablo Picasso’s have been showing off their creative flair at Eldene Primary this week after pupils had a flying visit from a renowned art collector.

Andrew Bunce made the trip to the Colingsmead school on Tuesday with just a small selection of the artwork he has managed to collect over the years as part of a project for Year 6 pupils which aims to take away some of the stresses they might face while preparing to sit their SATS.

The idea was the brainchild of deputy headteacher Wendy Blanchard who said the pupils thoroughly enjoyed themselves with many inspired to create their own paintings.

She added: “The pupils are currently learning about gallery rebels and so this visit was to allow them to have a way of expressing themselves through artwork.

“We only had a small tasting of Andrew’s collection as he brought in 49 paintings in total by quite well-known artists and what was great was that they were all completely different.

“It is great for the children to have variety and they were so excited to come and see the pictures in the flesh because we had been sent images beforehand so they had been discussing what they would look like up close.”

Andrew’s collection, which includes paintings from artists such as Ruskin Spear, Patrick Hughes and William Heath Robinson, was hung up in the hall for the entire day with the Year 6 pupils taking it in turns to write down techniques and textures they could use in their own work. t

Mrs Blanchard added: “It went down so well that we would definitely think about doing it again and it was clear that Andrew enjoyed himself as well. It was a great experience for the pupils.”