The concept of painting as a medium for creating illusions of space, volume, texture, light, and movement on a flat, stationary support was challenged by many modern artists. Some late 20th-century forms, for example, blurred the conventional distinctions between the mediums of sculpture and painting. Sculptors such as David Smith, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Philip Sutton made multicoloured constructions; painters such as Jean Arp and Ben Nicholson created abstract designs in painted wood relief, and Richard Smith painted on three-dimensional canvas structures the surfaces of which curl and thrust toward the spectator. And, rather than deny the essential flatness ... (100 of 18,976 words)Modern forms
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Family Group"/> Family Group, oil on canvas by Frederick R. Spencer, 1840; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. 74 × 91.4 cm.
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Virgin and Child with St. Anne"/> The interwoven, linear pattern of Leonardo da Vinci’s panel painting Virgin and Child with St. Anne, c. 1502–16; in the Louvre, Paris. 1.68 × 1.3 metres.
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Virgin and Child with St. Anne, oil on wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1502–16. In the Louvre, Paris.
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Colour(Left) Colour wheel made up of the primary colours and their basic secondary and tertiary mixtures. (Right) Colour wheel with approximate, inherent tonal values.
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An example of the early oil method of (left) colour glazing a (right) monochrome painting.
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Coloured afterimagesIf a person stares for about 30 seconds at the coloured disk under a clear light and then fixes upon the empty space of the adjacent circle, coloured afterimages will appear.
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Optical colour change(Top) By complementary action, the same gray pigment will appear greenish when adjacent to red but reddish if adjacent to green. (Bottom) A green hue will seem cool if surrounded by yellow but warm when surrounded by blue-green.
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Emotive colour relationshipsAn identical pattern of shapes may express a different emotional mood through each colour variation.
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Opening out the picture spaceThe movement of shapes in Morris Louis’s acrylic painting Alpha-Phi, 1961, directs the spectator’s eye outside the picture surface. In the Tate Gallery, London. 2.59 × 4.58 metres. In contrast, Vermeer’s design is contrived to hold the spectator’s attention within the frame.
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Virgin and Child"/> The flat pattern design of the anonymous Spanish panel painting Virgin and Child, 12th century; in the Museo Arqueológico Artístico Episcopal, Vich, Spain.
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Madonna of the Harpies, tempera on wood by Andrea del Sarto, 1517; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 2.07 × 1.78 m.
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Mont Sainte-Victoire, Seen from the Bibemus Quarry, oil on canvas by Paul Cézanne, 1897; in the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
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Renaissance cassone, painted and gilded wood, Florence, 15th century; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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Banquet scene with musicians, tempera painting on gesso from the tomb of Nebamun at Thebes, 18th dynasty (c. 1400 bc); in the British Museum, London.
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Christ Discovered in the Temple"/> Christ Discovered in the Temple, egg tempera on panel with gold leaf by Simone Martini, 1342; in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. 49.5 × 35 cm.
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The Annunciation"/> Detail of The Annunciation, tempera on wood by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, 1333; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
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Madonna Rucellai, tempera on wood by Duccio, 1285; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
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Cave painting of a bull and a horse; in Lascaux Grotto, near Montignac, France.
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Magdalenian cave painting of a bison, Altamira, Spain
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Plato and Aristotle surrounded by philosophers, detail from School of Athens, fresco by Raphael, 1508–11; in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican.
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The Creation of Adam, detail of the ceiling fresco by Michelangelo, 1508–12; in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.
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Detail of Renaissance sgraffito on the walls of the Březnice Château, Czech Republic.
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Crucifixion, oil on wood panel, by Giovanni Bellini, 1465; in the Louvre, Paris.
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Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, oil painting by Titian, c. 1550; in the Prado, Madrid.
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The Last Supper, fresco by Leonardo da Vinci, 1495–98; in Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan (in situ; prerestoration).
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The Monumental Turf"/> The Monumental Turf, watercolour painting by Albrecht Dürer, 1503; in the Albertina, Vienna. 41 × 31.5 cm.
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The Lauerzersee with Schwyz and the Mythen"/> The Lauerzersee with Schwyz and the Mythen, pencil, pen, ink, and watercolour on paper by J.M.W. Turner, c. 1848.
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Woodcutter Gazing at Waterfall"/> Woodcutter Gazing at Waterfall (detail) by Hokusai, ink and colour on paper scroll, 1798; in the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford, California.
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“At the Palais de Justice,” gouache on paper by Honoré Daumier; in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
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Mummy portrait of a young girl, encaustic painting from Al-Fayyūm, Egypt, 2nd century; in the Louvre, Paris.
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Le Luxe II"/> Le Luxe II, casein painting by Henri Matisse, 1907–08; in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.
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Fall"/> Fall, by Bridget Riley, 1963; in the Tate Gallery, London.
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Mother Combing Sara’s Hair, pastel on paper by Mary Cassatt, c. 1901; in the collection of Christie’s, London.
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Young Lady of the Leblond Family"/> Young Lady of the Leblond Family, pastel drawing by Rosalba Carriera, 1730; in the Accademia, Venice.
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John Keats, miniature oil on ivory by Joseph Severn, 1819.
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Tokugawa-period writing box of black lacquered wood decorated in gold paint, inlaid lead, and pewter, attributed to Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716).
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Navajo man creating a sand painting.
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Silhouette portrait by Charles Willson Peale; in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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Murals depicting scenes from the afterlife, in the Tomb of Sennedjem, Thebes, Egypt.
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The Annunciation, fresco by Fra Angelico, 1438–45; in the Museum of San Marco, Florence.
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The Soldiers of Zapata, detail of a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros, 1966, Cuernavaca, Mex.
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Re-creation of an untitled mural by Keith Haring on the corner of Houston Street and Bowery in New York City.
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A Young Man Among Roses"/> A Young Man Among Roses, watercolour miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1588; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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Las cántigas de Santa María"/> Detail from “The Book of Dice,” in Las cántigas de Santa María (“The Canticles of the Virgin Mary,” 1280–83), by King Alphonso X of Castile (1252–84).
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The aṣṭamaṅgalas, or eight auspicious Jaina symbols, seen above and below the seated image of the Jina (saviour), miniature from the Kalpa-sūtra, 15th century; in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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The Admonitions of the Court Instructress"/> The Admonitions of the Court Instructress, detail of an ink and colour on silk hand scroll, attributed to Gu Kaizhi, possibly a Tang dynasty copy of a Dong (Eastern) Jin dynasty original; in the British Museum, London.
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The Chinese Beauty Yang Guifei, ink scroll painting by Hosoda Eishi, c. 1800–20. 43.9 × 60.3 cm.
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Genji monogatari: Miotsukushi, centre detail of left screen of a pair of sixfold screens by Sōtatsu, colour on gold-leafed paper; in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo.
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Vernis Martin fan with mother-of-pearl guards, French, early 18th century; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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“Monogram,” combine painting (mixed media) by Robert Rauschenberg, 1959; in the Moderna Museet, Stockholm
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Peasant Dance, oil on wood by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1568; in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
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“The Temptation of St. Anthony,” triptych, interior of left panel, oil painting by Hiëronymus Bosch, middle period; in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon
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Click on image for enlargements of panels. “Garden of Earthly Delights” triptych, oil on wood by Hiëronymus Bosch, c. 1505–10; in the Prado, Madrid
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Kelly, oil painting by Sir Sidney Nolan, 1954; in a private collection.
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Self-Portrait at the Age of 34, oil on canvas by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1640; in the National Gallery, London. 102 × 80 cm.
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Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry"/> The illustration for January from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, manuscript illuminated by the Limburg brothers, 1416; in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.
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Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, oil painting by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1664–65; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. 45.7 × 40.6 cm.
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“Waterfall,” oil painting by Jacob van Ruisdael, c. 1670?; in the Uffizi, Florence
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The Doges’ Palace and Piazza San Marco, Venice, oil on canvas by Canaletto; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
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The Trinity, oil on canvas by Tintoretto, 1564; in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, Italy. 122 × 181 cm.
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Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhana, Mewār miniature painting, early 18th century; in a private collection
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Various types of artist’s brushes.
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The paintings on ancient Greek pottery give evidence of how people of the time understood their shared narratives of myth and religion.
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Artist Chuck Close, in conversation with Anna Deavere Smith, discussing his creative process and explaining that using a grid system helped him overcome his dyslexia, Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen Institute, Colorado, July 1, 2009. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.