Structuring the description of an artwork

This work by Carmen Rio is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Learning goals

To be able to structure a description of an artwork properly.
To acquire useful vocabulary and expressions in order to be able to describe artworks, particularly paintings.

To achieve those goals, you should become familiar with the words in the resource, paying special attention to those included in the exercises. The interactive activities provide feedback so that you can evaluate your performance.

Steps in describing an artwork

When describing an artwork, it is important to give a coherent structure to the text.

The outline suggested below is intended to be a simple orientation, you don't have to cover absolutely all the sections and subsections:

1. IDENTIFY THE ARTWORK

2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ARTWORK: WHAT CAN YOU SEE?

3. ANALYZE THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS:

Focal point and structural lines
Depth and perspective
Types of brushstroke
Types of line
Shapes
Symmetry,visual rhythm, patterns
Color
Light
etc

4. SUBJECTIVE REACTION