PAINTING / EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES
Elements of Painting
Seven Major Modern Painting Styles
Elements of Painting
Seven Major Modern Painting Styles
WHAT IS PAINTING?
A painting is an image (artwork) created using pigments (color) on a surface (ground) such as paper or canvas. The pigment may be in a wet form, such as paint, or a dry form, such as pastels.
Painting can also be a verb, the action of creating such an artwork.
Painting is the art of creating pictures by applying color to a surface. Paintings can record events; capture a likeness of a person, place, or object; tell stories; decorate walls; and illustrate texts. Paintings can express emotions and ideas, or simply be enjoyed for their beauty.
WHAT KINDS OF PAINTS DO ARTISTS USE?
Paint is made by mixing a pigment (colored powder) with a medium (liquid substance) such as water. Egg is the medium for tempera painting, linseed oil for oil painting, and acrylic resin for acrylic painting. In fresco wall paintings, pigments are applied to wet plaster. Watercolors are made by mixing pigments with a water-soluble binder such as gum.
HOW AND WHEN DID PAINTING BEGIN?
Some 20,000 years ago, early humans ground up earth, charcoal, and minerals, and used the colored powders to create images on cave walls. Sometimes the powders were mixed with saliva or animal fat to form a fluid, which was blown through reeds, or applied with fingers. The first paintings were of hunting scenes.
WHAT SUBJECTS DO ARTISTS PAINT?
Some artists paint aspects of the visible world, such as people, landscapes, still-lifes of tableware, fruit, and flowers, or scenes from history, literature, and the imagination. Such paintings are realistic—they look like something real. Other paintings are abstract—they are not supposed to look like anything from the real world, but use colors, shapes, and lines to express feelings, moods, or ideas.
KEY SCHOOLS OF PAINTING & KEY WORKS
Gothic 13th–15th The Annunciation, Simone Martini
Renaissance 14th–16th The Arnolfini Marriage , van Eyck School of Athens, Raphael
Baroque 17th–18th The Descent from the Cross, Rubens
Rococo 17th–18th The Swing, Fragonard
Neoclassicism 18th–19th The Oath of the Horatii , David
Romanticism 18th–19th The Raft of the Medusa, Géricault
Impressionism & Post-Impressionism Late 19th Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Renoir; Mont Ste Victoire, Cezanne
Cubism 20th Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso
A painting is an image (artwork) created using pigments (color) on a surface (ground) such as paper or canvas. The pigment may be in a wet form, such as paint, or a dry form, such as pastels.
Painting can also be a verb, the action of creating such an artwork.
Painting is the art of creating pictures by applying color to a surface. Paintings can record events; capture a likeness of a person, place, or object; tell stories; decorate walls; and illustrate texts. Paintings can express emotions and ideas, or simply be enjoyed for their beauty.
WHAT KINDS OF PAINTS DO ARTISTS USE?
Paint is made by mixing a pigment (colored powder) with a medium (liquid substance) such as water. Egg is the medium for tempera painting, linseed oil for oil painting, and acrylic resin for acrylic painting. In fresco wall paintings, pigments are applied to wet plaster. Watercolors are made by mixing pigments with a water-soluble binder such as gum.
HOW AND WHEN DID PAINTING BEGIN?
Some 20,000 years ago, early humans ground up earth, charcoal, and minerals, and used the colored powders to create images on cave walls. Sometimes the powders were mixed with saliva or animal fat to form a fluid, which was blown through reeds, or applied with fingers. The first paintings were of hunting scenes.
WHAT SUBJECTS DO ARTISTS PAINT?
Some artists paint aspects of the visible world, such as people, landscapes, still-lifes of tableware, fruit, and flowers, or scenes from history, literature, and the imagination. Such paintings are realistic—they look like something real. Other paintings are abstract—they are not supposed to look like anything from the real world, but use colors, shapes, and lines to express feelings, moods, or ideas.
KEY SCHOOLS OF PAINTING & KEY WORKS
Gothic 13th–15th The Annunciation, Simone Martini
Renaissance 14th–16th The Arnolfini Marriage , van Eyck School of Athens, Raphael
Baroque 17th–18th The Descent from the Cross, Rubens
Rococo 17th–18th The Swing, Fragonard
Neoclassicism 18th–19th The Oath of the Horatii , David
Romanticism 18th–19th The Raft of the Medusa, Géricault
Impressionism & Post-Impressionism Late 19th Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Renoir; Mont Ste Victoire, Cezanne
Cubism 20th Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso