How to correctly classify a painting?
In principle, there are a few simple rules for classifying a table. You will find an explanation below that can help you.
Abstract art :
Abstract painting makes no reference to reality, as it is simply made up of light, pure colors and elementary forms. An abstract painting therefore appears as a composition of simplified colors and shapes, worthy of a master of the caliber of Vassily Kandinsky.
Example of abstract art: Carla Sá Fernandes, The emotional creation #362, 2022. Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 90 cm.
Raw art :
Art brut painting turns out to be anti-academic, that is to say rather free from the rules of canonical art and, therefore, able to show eccentric and original points of view. A raw art painting mainly expresses the interior, primitive and unconventional world of the artist, who, marked by a personal and original point of view, frees his creativity without prejudice. An example of the aforementioned trend is certainly the work of Jean Dubuffet.
Concept art :
In conceptual paintings, the ideas expressed are more important than the aesthetic and perceptual outcome of the work itself. For example, if I paint a flower thinking it must represent the full weight of man's inexorable destruction of nature, the way the subject is executed will appear inexorably out of place, for I have created a work in which the concept comes before the optical perception.
Naive art :
Naive painting, often practiced by self-taught artists, is free from academicism and rather spontaneous, as it pursues the intention of giving voice to the purest and most naive need for expression inherent in man, capable of giving life from rather childish, magical and unreal points of view. So, if one morning you're feeling a bit "childish" and want to give voice to the lighter movements of your heart, now might be the time to create some naive art!
Example of Naive Art: Anita Zotkina, I am here, 2022. Oil on canvas, 45.7 x 35.6 cm.
Oriental art :
Oriental painting refers to all the artistic practices of a territory encompassing central, eastern, southern, southeastern and western Asia. Therefore, if your work is influenced by countries like China or Japan, you are, in a sense, an "Orientalist"!
Spiritual art :
Spiritual painting refers to the world of deities, as well as to works that, in seeking the highest meaning of life, also situate our existence in relation to death. If you feel that your painting reflects, conveys and disseminates deep and philosophical meanings regarding our existence on earth and beyond, it is probably a spiritual production.
Tribal art :
Tribal paintings are works that refer to or are inspired by the visual and material culture of indigenous peoples. This trend can also be compared to the Primitivist experiment, which saw artists such as Picasso and Modigliani draw inspiration from African art.
Calligraphic art :
Calligraphic art exploits the visual potential of writing, within more or less "careful" compositions, also from a chromatic and sometimes figurative point of view. In this context, however, a distinction should be made between works of art in which only a few sentences appear, as for example in Pop paintings, from those where the interest is mainly in the written text. In fact, it is only in the latter case that one can really speak of calligraphic painting.
Classicism :
Classical painting is painting that refers to the ancient tradition, in particular to the ideal beauty conveyed by the Greeks and Romans, which is expressed through very precise figurative works that are faithful to reality. Looking at the paintings of Jacques-Louis David can give you an idea of the interpretation of Greek classicism in the 18th century.
Example of Classicims: Oj, After Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 2022. Oil / tempera on linen canvas, 40 x 40 cm.
Cubism :
Cubist painting essentially relies on four ingredients: a monochromatic color palette, a flattened picture plane, the application of multiple perspectives, and the translation of real data into geometric shapes rendered in the "fourth dimension". To give a concrete example of this type of "realism": a cubist painter paints the opening of a vase not as an oval figure in perspective, but by representing it in the form of a circle, i.e. to say by bringing the object back to its purest essence. Finally, the reference to the works of Braque and Picasso is essential to deepen the subject.
Example of Cubism: Carlos Blanco Artero, Corrida, 2014. Oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm.
Expressionism :
The brushstrokes of expressionist painters are swirling, undulating and "distorted", as they are not intended to be true to reality, but to the emotional state of the artist, troubled by the unease transmitted to him by the outside world. For example, Schiele's self-portraits are expressionistic, as they emphasize the painter's gaze and large hands, showing the full depth of his being and, probably, the fragility of his person.
Example of expressionism: Miloš Hronec, Reverie, 2022. Oil / Acrylic / Spray paint on Canvas, 77.5 x 62.5 cm.
Fauvism :
The concept of Fauvist painting is the same as that of Expressionism, namely giving voice to interiority. Unlike Expressionism, however, in Fauvism this task is relegated exclusively to color. In fact, chromatism becomes the true protagonist of the works of the Fauves, characterized by strong tones, which find their highest expression in the work of Henri Matisse.
Example of Fauvism: Van Lanigh, Lady with an ermine, 2022. Oil on Canvas, 60 x 50 cm.
Figurative Art :
Figurative painting creates highly recognizable images of the world around us faithfully and accurately. The best examples of this trend are Renaissance art, Baroque and Realism.
Example of realism: Shulman, The degree of trust, 2022. Oil on Canvas, 60 x 60 cm.
Geometric :
Geometric painting, as the term itself suggests, refers to any creative production in which there is a strong presence of geometric shapes. Abstractionism itself, in turn, is called geometric abstractionism, when geometry prevails in compositions.
Illustration :
Illustration painting refers to the visual explanation of a text or concept, designed to be incorporated into printed matter, magazines, books, etc. A famous example is the work of Honoré Daumier, a French artist known for his political satire caricatures created using the lithographic technique.
Impressionism :
Impressionist painters are fascinated by the mutability of light, which allows them to capture subjects in ever-changing contexts. Therefore, from the point of view of execution, a faster than traditional painting technique is required; in fact, they use rapid and dense brushstrokes, aiming to generate small touches of color which, juxtaposed to each other and never mixed or overlapped, come together to bring the images to life. The great masters of the genre were Monet and Renoir.
Example of Impressionism: Olga Gordienok, The boats, 2022. Oil on Canvas, 30 x 40 cm.
Land art :
Land art is a form of contemporary art dating from 1967, which involves the abandonment of traditional artistic means for direct intervention by the artist in and on nature. We can cite as an example The Floating Piers, an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which consisted of a network of floating piers open to the public, installed on Lake Iseo, between Sulzano, Montisola and the island of San Paolo ( Italy). In conclusion, we can say that in this art form, the painter's canvas has become the landscape itself.
Minimalism :
Minimalist painting, which implements a radical process of reducing reality, aims for anti-expressiveness, impersonality, emotional coldness and an emphasis on the objectivity and physicality of the work in order to obtain elementary geometric structures. This is summed up in Harran II (1967), a painting by Frank Stella consisting of a complete circle formed by two vertical goniometers, each of which fits together with a horizontal goniometric shape.
Pop-art :
Pop art painting is characterized by provocative, colorful and sometimes repetitive images, with the intention of introducing the reality of advertising, supermarkets, show business and neon signs into the art world. Therefore, the works, which reflect the world of consumption, can also be cold and impersonal. The favorite techniques of this movement are stencil, collage and screen printing.
Example of Pop art: Jamie Lee, Girl with phone, 2022. Acrylic on Canvas, 70 x 70 cm.
Street-art :
The painting borrows the language of street art, making explicit reference to tags, graffiti and murals, sometimes realizing them with the particular technique of the bomb, stencil, etc., means of artistic investigation all inherited from the expression aforementioned urban creative.
Example of street art: Vincent Bardou, Graffiti burns, 2022. Acrylic / Spray paint / Ink on Canvas, 120 x 120 cm.
Surrealism :
Surrealist painting moves away from artistic research aimed at placing conscious rationality at the center, in order to release the full potential of the imagination, also stimulated by the unconscious dimension, often reached by the world of dreams. To get an idea of how these concepts were concretely manifested in painting, we must refer to the eccentric work of Salvador Dali.
Example of Surrealism: Greg Known, Parting with the past, 2022. Oil on Canvas, 60 x 50 cm.
Symbolism :
Symbolist painting seeks to express emotional experience through personal, spiritual and mystical subjects, which, often obscure, are linked to themes of religion, mythology, dreams and nostalgia, turned towards an ancient world, strongly opposed to the inexorable modern decline. In this specific context, I take as an example the emblematic work of Gustave Moreau.
It is extremely important to correctly classify one's works. Indeed, a person who is looking for street art paintings and comes across an impressionist work because the painting has been misclassified, has a good chance of leaving the page.
Do not hesitate to check that your works are correctly classified, even the one you uploaded a long time ago.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
