GLOSSARY OF ART TERMS

Use this list of common art terms to make your visit more interesting and learn new things!

Abstract – Artwork that doesn't try to represent reality, but instead uses lines, shapes, and colors to represent emotions and ideas.

Background – The part of the picture that appears to be the farthest from the viewer.

Brushstroke – The marks made on a surface by a painter’s brush.

Color – When light is reflected off of an object, it creates color.

Color Wheel – A tool used in art and design to show colors and their relationship to each other.

Complimentary Colors – Colors that appear on opposite sides of the color wheel. When placed side-by-side, these colors can intensify each other.

Composition – The arrangement of the elements of art and the principles of design within a work of art.

Contemporary Art – Art made between the mid-1900s and the present.

Contrast – A design principle that emphasizes the differences between art elements like bright/dull, dark/light, or angular/round.

Curator – A person responsible for acquiring, caring for, and exhibiting artwork, objects, or artifacts.

Dimensional – Measurement in one direction. A 2-dimensional work of art can be measured in two directions: length and width. A 3-dimensional work of art can be measured in three directions: length, width, and depth.

Figure – The form of a human, animal, or thing; most often refers to an entire human form.

Foreground – The part of the picture that appears closest to the viewer.

Form – A 3-dimensional shape or the illusion of a 3-dimensional shape. A form takes up space and has volume.

Geometric Shape – Mathematical shapes created using points, line segments, and curves. They are generally characterized by straight lines, angles, and points.

Horizontal – A line or shape that runs across a surface from left to right.

Installation – Artwork created to fill a room or space, often using sculpture or structures designed to envelop the viewer, who is invited to enter or walk through the piece.

Landscape – A work of art that depicts natural settings like the ocean, mountains, trees, or the sky.

Line – The most basic element of art, a line is a single point moving around in space and is used to create shapes, contours, texture, and shading.

Media or Medium – The materials used to create a piece of artwork, such as paint, clay, marble, wood, or pastels.

Organic Shape – Irregular shapes that might be found in nature, often with rounded edges.

Pattern – Repetition of an element of art, like shapes, lines, or colors.

Perspective – A way of painting or drawing that represents 3-dimensional objects or space, creating a sense of depth and making some objects appear closer than others.

Portrait – A work of art where the main subject is a person or people.

Primary Colors – Colors that cannot be produced by mixing other colors – red, blue, and yellow.

Printmaking – The process of reproducing images on a flat surface. The three types of printmaking are relief (linoleum cut, woodblock), intaglio (etching, engraving), and stencil (silkscreen).

Realism – Artwork that attempts a photographic likeness of the subject matter. Sometimes refers to the choice of subject matter that is commonplace as opposed to idealized.

Secondary Colors – Colors created by mixing two primary colors – green, orange, purple.

Self-Portrait – A work of art that an artist makes of themself.

Shades – Colors created when black is added to a hue to darken a color.

Shape – Enclosed 2-dimensional areas are shapes. Shapes can be geometric or organic.

Space – Space is when something has a sense of depth. It can be created on a 2-dimensional surface using techniques like perspective, overlapping, size, and placement.

Still Life – A work of art showing inanimate objects, often placed in an arrangement, like flowers in a vase, fruit in a bowl, or a table setting.

Subject Matter – What the artwork depicts. What you see in the artwork.

Symmetry – A way of organizing the parts of a design so that one side mirrors the other side.

Texture – The way a surface feels or looks like it would feel if it were touched.

Tints – Colors created when white is added to lighten a color.

Tones – Colors created by adding gray to a color.

Value – The lightness (tint) or darkness (shade) of colors in an image.

Vertical – A line or shape that runs up and down a surface from top to bottom.

Volume – The space within a form.