Analyzing Artwork: A Comprehensive Method for Interpretation

Artwork Analysis: Classification Fundamentals

Briefly, you must always point out the following elements:

• The Kind of Artwork: Identify the medium represented (e.g., building, painting, sculpture).
• Specific Details and Technique: Add details like the type of building or the technique used (e.g., fresco, oil painting, watercolor, engraving, standalone sculpture, relief, bas-relief, high-relief, sitting statue, praying statue, lying statue, riding statue).
• Identification: Name, author, and date, if known.
• Subject or Theme: The theme represented in the image, if any.
• Style and Context: Style, trend, movement, or school.

Analyzing the Author/Artist

A short biography (four or five lines) must be written. Avoid irrelevant details, focusing on essential elements to describe the author. The artist must be situated within their historical moment, social class or group, and political opinion.

Painting Analysis: Detailed Examination

A) Materials and Technique

• Type of Painting Support: Canvas, wood panel, wall, etc.
• Technique: Fresco, oil, tempera, watercolor (aquarelle), gouache, etc.
• Brushstroke: Describe the application—thin, thick, dense (using a lot of material), swift, light (sketch type), or accurate.

B) Genre

• Mythological, religious, historic, portrait, landscape, still life, etc.

C) Lines and Drawing

• Line Types: Continuous or discontinuous. Note their arrangement on the painting (concentration, spreading).
• Drawing vs. Shape: Is drawing more important than shape? Check if lines encircle figures and volumes, or if borders are blurred with shades.
• Use of Drawing: Straight lines usually create a feeling of quietness. Vertical lines suggest equilibrium and elegance. Horizontal lines generate an impression of rest and peace.

D) Color

• Color vs. Drawing: Is color more important than drawing?
• Color Processing: Plain colors, gradient (halftones), transparencies, etc.
• Chromatic Palette: Main palette—cold or warm.
• Emotional Impact: Feelings generated by color (coldness, daydreaming, tension, passion, tranquility, sensuality).
• Distribution and Combination: Harmony or contrast.
• Symbolism: Inner meaning of colors within the painting.

E) Light

• Light Distribution: Homogeneous versus focused. Point out the origin of the light, if discernible.
• Type of Light: Natural or artificial.
• Contrast: Light contrast, such as chiaroscuro.
• Meaning: Analyze the light's role in the painting's meaning (e.g., dramatic use, naturalistic effect, special emphasis).

F) Space and Perspective

• Perspective Techniques: Use of scorcio (foreshortening) and perspective types: conic, aerial, linear.
• Grounds: Point out the different grounds in the picture (foreground, middle ground, background), mentioning the objects located in each area.

G) Composition and Movement

• Visual Arrangement: Symmetric or asymmetric arrangement, tensions, or patterns.
• Main Dimension: Vertical, horizontal, diagonal, open or closed, central focus.
• Emotional Response: Feelings produced by the composition (equilibrium, movement, uncertainty, tension, etc.).
• Type of Movement: Continuous, spinning, diagonal, linear.
• Configuring Elements: Identify the lines, colors, lights and shadows, gestures and expressions, and vanishing point that configure the movement or quietness of the composition.