Painting, A B-FRE
Need help distinguishing your Picassos from your Monets? Learn about history’s celebrated painters and the different styles, techniques, mediums, and forms that have been used to create such unique visual images as Salvador Dalí’s melting clock and the ever-shifting eyes of Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic Mona Lisa.
Painting Encyclopedia Articles By Title
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, oil painting created in 1882 by groundbreaking French artist Édouard Manet. The complex,......
A Bigger Splash, Pop art acrylic painting created in 1967 by British artist David Hockney. This large and striking......
Abstract Expressionism, broad movement in American painting that began in the late 1940s and became a dominant......
Abstraction-Création, association of international painters and sculptors that from 1931 to 1936 promoted the principles......
acrylic painting, painting executed in the medium of synthetic acrylic resins. Acrylics dry rapidly, serve as a......
Action painting, direct, instinctual, and highly dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application......
Ada group, ivory carvings and a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts, dating from the last quarter of the......
Aestheticism, late 19th-century European arts movement which centred on the doctrine that art exists for the sake......
Amarna style, revolutionary style of Egyptian art created by Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaton during his......
American Gothic, painting by Grant Wood completed in 1930. Grant Wood, an artist from Iowa, was a member of the......
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, oil painting created by Dutch artist Rembrandt in 1632. One of the artist’s......
Antwerp Mannerists, the unidentified group of painters working primarily in Antwerp (but also in other Flemish......
aquarelle, technique of painting in transparent, rather than opaque, watercolours. Although aquarelle was known......
Arena Chapel, (consecrated March 25, 1305) small chapel built in the first years of the 14th century in Padua,......
Armory Show, an exhibition of painting and sculpture held from February 17 to March 15, 1913, at the Sixty-ninth......
Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, oil painting created by American-born artist James McNeill Whistler in 1871.......
art brut, (French: “raw art”), art of the French painter Jean Dubuffet, who in the 1940s promoted art that is crude,......
Ashcan School, group of American realist painters based in New York City in the early 20th century. The group’s......
Assumption of the Virgin, oil painting on panel created in 1516–18 by Titian as the altarpiece for the church of......
automatism, technique first used by Surrealist painters and poets to express the creative force of the unconscious......
Avignon school, a body of late Gothic painting, not necessarily of a single stylistic evolution, produced in and......
Baghdad school, stylistic movement of Islāmic manuscript illustration, founded in the late 12th century (though......
baimiao, in Chinese painting, brush technique that produces a finely controlled, supple ink outline drawing without......
Bamboccianti, group of painters working in Rome in the mid-17th century who were known for their relatively small,......
Barbizon school, mid-19th-century French school of painting, part of a larger European movement toward naturalism......
bark painting, nonwoven fabric decorated with figurative and abstract designs usually applied by scratching or......
Basohli painting, school of Pahari miniature painting that flourished in the Indian hill states during the late......
Bathers at Asnières, French artist Georges Seurat’s first large-scale painting (measuring 6.59 × 9.84 feet [2.01......
The Beehive, artists’ settlement on the outskirts of the Montparnasse section of Paris, which in the early 20th......
Birth of Venus, painting by Sandro Botticelli completed about 1485. Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings......
Birthday, Surrealist self-portrait painted in oils in 1942 by American artist Dorothea Tanning. It was her first......
Die Blaue Vier, successor group of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”; 1911–14), formed in 1924 in Germany by the......
Blue Poles, mixed media painting on canvas created in 1952 by American Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollock.......
Bodhisattva Padmapani, mural painting by an unknown artist that is believed to date from the late 5th century.......
Bohemian school, school of the visual arts that flourished in and around Prague under the patronage of Charles......
Bolognese school, in the most restricted sense, the works produced and the theories expounded by the late 16th-......
The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning, one of fourteen oil-on-canvas paintings by French artist Camille......
Boy in a Red Waistcoat, an oil-on-canvas painting by Paul Cézanne created between 1888 and 1890, one of four oil......
British Surrealism, manifestation in Great Britain of Surrealism, a European movement in visual art and literature......
brush, device composed of natural or synthetic fibres set into a handle that is used for cleaning, grooming, polishing,......
Die Brücke, organization of German painters and printmakers that from 1905 to 1913 played a pivotal role in the......
A Burial at Ornans, influential oil painting created by French artist Gustave Courbet between 1849 and 1850. The......
Būndi painting, important school of the Rājasthanī style of Indian miniature painting that lasted from the 17th......
camaieu, painting technique by which an image is executed either entirely in shades or tints of a single colour......
Camden Town Group, group of English Post-Impressionist artists who met on a weekly basis in the studio of the painter......
Carolingian art, classic style produced during the reign of Charlemagne (768–814) and thereafter until the late......
casein painting, painting executed with colours ground in a solution of casein, a phosphoprotein of milk precipitated......
Central African Workshop, art workshop established in the late 1950s by Frank McEwen, the director of the Rhodesian......
Chan painting, school of Chinese painting inspired by the “meditative” school of Buddhism called, in Chinese, Chan......
chiaroscuro, (from Italian chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”), technique employed in the visual arts to represent......
The Child’s Bath, oil-on-canvas painting created in 1893 by American artist Mary Cassatt during her mature period.......
Chinese painting, one of the major art forms produced in China over the centuries. The other arts of China are......
- Introduction
- Calligraphy, Brushwork, Ink
- Brushwork, Landscapes, Calligraphy
- Qin, Han, Brushwork
- Sui, Tang, Dynasties
- Five Dynasties (907–960) and Ten Kingdoms (902–978)
- Ming Dynasty, Brushwork, Landscapes
- Brushwork, Landscapes, Calligraphy
- Brushwork, Landscapes, Calligraphy
- Brushwork, Landscapes, Calligraphy
chinsō, in Japanese art, type of Buddhist portraiture developed especially by the Zen sect about 1200. Chinsō were......
Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, fresco in the Sistine Chapel that was painted in 1481–82 by Italian Renaissance......
Christina’s World, tempera painting on panel created in 1948 by American realist artist Andrew Wyeth. It became......
classicism, aesthetic attitude and art style based on or reiterating themes, techniques, and subjects of art from......
Claude Lorrain glass, black convex glass used by artists to reflect the landscape in miniature and, in doing so,......
COBRA, Expressionist group of painters whose name is derived from the first letters of the three northern European......
color-field painting, with Action painting, one of two major strains of the 20th-century art movement known as......
Company school, style of miniature painting that developed in India in the second half of the 18th century in response......
Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red, oil painting by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian that was begun in 1937–38 and......
Concrete Invention, a group of artists based in Buenos Aires in the 1940s known for its works of geometric abstraction.......
The Conversion of St. Paul, two paintings (c. 1601) by Italian artist Caravaggio portraying the conversion of Paul......
The Coronation of Napoleon, monumental oil painting (20.37 × 32.12 feet [6.21 × 9.79 meters]) by French artist......
The Course of Empire: Destruction, allegorical oil painting created in 1836 by American painter Thomas Cole that......
Cubism, highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century that was created principally by the artists Pablo......
Cubo-Futurism, Russian avant-garde art movement in the 1910s that emerged as an offshoot of European Futurism and......
cun, in Chinese painting, brushstrokes or dabs that give texture, or surface, to the pictorial elements. The Chinese......
Cuzco school, the group of European and indigenous painters active in Cuzco, Peru, from the 16th through the 18th......
Dance (I), huge oil painting created in 1909 by French Fauvist artist Henri Matisse as the full-size study for......
Danube school, a tradition of landscape painting that developed in the region of the Danube River valley in the......
Deccani painting, style of miniature painting that flourished from the late 16th century among the Deccani sultanates......
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, painting by Pablo Picasso completed in 1907. At 25 years of age, with an already serious......
Descent from the Cross, triptych created by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens in 1611–14 for the altar of the Cathedral......
divisionism, in painting, the practice of separating colour into individual dots or strokes of pigment. It formed......
Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, oil painting by Giacomo Balla that was completed in 1912. It is an iconic Futurist......
décor bois, (French: “wood decoration”), in decorative arts, trompe l’oeil decoration of porcelain and faience......
Düsseldorf school, painters who studied at the Düsseldorf Academy (now Düsseldorf State Academy of Art) and whose......
easel painting, painting executed on a portable support such as a panel or canvas, instead of on a wall. It is......
Eastern Indian painting, school of painting that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries in the area of what......
Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Chinese painters who worked in the area of Yangzhou, in Jiangsu province, during......
Eight Masters of Nanjing, group of Chinese artists who lived and worked during the late 17th century in Nanjing......
The Eight, group of American painters who exhibited together only once, in New York City in 1908, but who established......
emaki, Japanese illustrated text, or narrative picture scroll. The makimono, or horizontal hand-scroll, format......
encaustic painting, painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax. Artists can change the......
English school, dominant school of painting in England throughout the second half of the 18th century and the first......
Expressionism, artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective......
Eṣfahān school, last great school of Persian miniature painting, at its height in the early 17th century under......
The Family of Carlos IV, oil painting by Francisco Goya in 1800 depicting the royal family of Spain. It has often......
Fauvism, style of painting that flourished in France around the turn of the 20th century. Fauve artists used pure,......
Fayum portrait, any of the funerary portraits dating from the Roman period (1st to the 4th century) found in Egyptian......
Flag (1954–55), encaustic, oil, and collage painting on wood panel that was created in 1954–55 by American artist......
Flemish art, art of the 15th, 16th, and early 17th centuries in Flanders and in the surrounding regions including......
school of Fontainebleau, the vast number of artists, both foreign and French, whose works are associated with the......
fore-edge painting, technique of painting the edges of the leaves, or folios, of a book, employed in the European......
Four Masters of Anhui, group of Chinese artists who were born and worked in Anhui province in the 17th century......
Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty, Chinese painters who worked during the Yuan period (1206–1368) and were revered......
Four Wangs, Chinese landscape painters (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi) who were members of the......
Franco-Cantabrian art, style of art associated with a group of Paleolithic cave sites in southwestern France and......
fresco painting, method of painting water-based pigments on freshly applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces.......