Painting is the practice of applying pigment to a surface, most often with a brush but also with palette knives, sponges or airbrushes, to create an image or expressive arrangement of color and form. The earliest known paintings survive as cave art from the Upper Paleolithic period, roughly 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, with sites such as Chauvet Cave and Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain preserving figures of animals, human handprints and geometric signs made with red ochre and black pigments derived from iron oxide, manganese dioxide and charcoal. Experts attribute the work at Altamira to Homo sapiens working in multiple stages between about 36,000 and 15,000 years ago. Over millennia the support for painting shifted from cave and rock walls to plastered building walls and eventually to portable surfaces such as panel, paper and canvas, while pigment sources expanded from earth and mineral colors to plant extracts and, much later, synthetic dyes. A decisive technical turning point came in fifteenth century Europe, when artists began binding pigment in linseed oil, producing a flexible and durable medium credited with helping drive the outpouring of creativity in Renaissance painting. Subject matter broadened far beyond the animal imagery of the earliest work to include portraiture, religious and historical narrative, landscape and scenes of everyday life, and painting has remained one of the most continuously practiced art forms across nearly every world culture from prehistory to the present.
Facts
MediumPigment applied to a surface, typically with a brush, in a binding medium that has historically included oil, egg tempera, water based media or acrylic, on supports ranging from rock and plaster to panel, paper and canvas. 1 Signature TechniquePaint or pigment bound in a medium and applied to a surface, most commonly with a brush. 2 Place of OriginSulawesi, Indonesia; the oldest known paintings, Upper Paleolithic cave art found in the Maros-Pangkep caves, are more than 40,000 to 60,000 years old, with a painting at Leang Karampuang dated to about 51,200 years old. 2 Notable ExampleThe cave painting at Leang Karampuang in Sulawesi, Indonesia, depicting anthropomorphic figures interacting with a pig, dated to about 51,200 years old and considered the oldest known painting in the world. 2 Connections
Associated With
chiaroscuro is a technique of the painting art form.
encaustic painting is a technique of the painting art form.
grisaille is a technique of the painting art form.
impasto is a technique of the painting art form.
pointillism is a technique of the painting art form.
sfumato is a technique of the painting art form.
tempera is a technique of the painting art form.
trompe loeil technique is a technique of the painting art form.
Expressed In
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Movements
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Symbolism, Movements Symbolism began as a literary movement; this atlas's own Symbolism entity is scoped to the visual/painting facet per the Arts-Literature seam (Literature carries the text and authorship side). Its three defining figures, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, are painters, and this atlas already links Moreau and his work The Apparition to this entity.
Source Symbolism, Art Movement (Britannica)
Open Questions
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Practitioners
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 (Tate)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Works In This Form
1915 painting by Kazimir Malevich, founding work of Suprematism.
1942-43 painting by Piet Mondrian.
Tempera painting by Andrew Wyeth.
Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1614-1620.
Portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1489-1491.
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
1912 painting by Marcel Duchamp.
Renaissance-era portrait painting; specific attribution not confirmed by this lane, In Form only (honest gap, see file header).
Portrait by Diego Velazquez, 1650.
Tapestry design cartoons by Raphael, 1515-1516.
Still-life series by Vincent van Gogh, 1888-1889.
Still life by Paul Cezanne, c. 1893.
Early Renaissance battle-panel series by Paolo Uccello.
Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1770.
Painting by Caravaggio, 1600-1601.
1807 Neoclassical history painting by Jacques-Louis David.
1770 history painting by Benjamin West.
1565 winter landscape by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Fresco by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel altar wall, 1536-1541.
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Painting by Titian, 1538.
History painting by Emanuel Leutze.
1778 painting by John Singleton Copley.
Sources
1. Tate
Tate, United KingdomArt Terms: Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint or other media to a surface, usually with a brush
- Movements: Fauvism
- Movements: Rococo, Art Terms: Rococo
- Movements: Futurism, Art Terms: Futurism
- Expressed In: Rococo, Art Terms: Rococo
- Expressed In: Futurism, Art Terms: Futurism
View the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPainting, Opening definition
The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush.
Painting, History section
cave paintings which depict anthropomorphic figures interacting with a pig...in Leang Karampuang...are approximately 51,200 years old, establishing them as the oldest known paintings in the world.
- Practitioners: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Practitioners: Edgar Degas
- Practitioners: Camille Pissarro
- Practitioners: Berthe Morisot
- Practitioners: Mary Cassatt
- Practitioners: Alfred Sisley
- Practitioners: Edouard Manet
- Practitioners: Paul Cezanne
- Practitioners: Henri Matisse
- Practitioners: Andre Derain
Movements: Expressionism, Expressionism, opening section
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century.
Movements: De Stijl, De Stijl, Principles and influences section
This theory initially adopted only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical lines.
Movements: Minimalism, Minimalism, Paintings section
In general, minimalism's features included geometric, often cubic forms purged of much metaphor, equality of parts, repetition, neutral surfaces, and industrial materials.
- Movements: American Modernism, American modernism, Wikipedia summary, expressed-in painting
- Movements: Northern Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, Wikipedia summary, expressed-in painting
- Movements: Vienna Secession, Vienna Secession, Wikipedia summary, expressed-in painting
- Movements: Muralism, Mexican muralism, Wikipedia summary, expressed-in painting
- Movements: High Renaissance, High Renaissance, Wikipedia summary, expressed-in painting
Works In This Form: The Scream, The Scream, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
The Scream is an art composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893.
Works In This Form: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Wikipedia infobox
is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated c. 1665.
Works In This Form: The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
Triptych painting by Hieronymus Bosch
Works In This Form: The Kiss (Klimt), The Kiss (Klimt), Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is an oil-on-canvas painting
Works In This Form: The Night Watch, The Night Watch, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn
Works In This Form: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
It is recognised as a leading example of pointillist technique and as a founding work of the neo-impressionist movement.
Works In This Form: The Treachery of Images, The Treachery of Images, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is a 1929 painting by Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte.
Works In This Form: The Death of Marat, The Death of Marat, Wikipedia infobox
is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David
Works In This Form: Campbell's Soup Cans, Campbell's Soup Cans, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is a series of 32 paintings produced by American artist Andy Warhol between 1961 and 1962.
Works In This Form: The Third of May 1808, The Third of May 1808, Wikipedia infobox
1814 painting by Francisco de Goya
Works In This Form: The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Calling of Saint Matthew, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is an oil painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio
- Works In This Form: Along the River During the Qingming Festival
- Works In This Form: Ajanta Cave Paintings
- Works In This Form: Fayum Mummy Portraits
- Works In This Form: Isenheim Altarpiece
- Works In This Form: Arnolfini Portrait
- Works In This Form: The Birth of Venus
- Works In This Form: Las Meninas
View the Source Gardner's Art Through the Ages
Fred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner), Cengage Learning- chapter on the history and materials of painting
- Practitioners: Leonardo da Vinci, chapter on the Italian Renaissance, section on Leonardo da Vinci
- Practitioners: Vincent van Gogh, chapter on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, section on Van Gogh
- Works In This Form: Mona Lisa, chapter on the Italian Renaissance, section on Leonardo da Vinci
- Works In This Form: The Starry Night, chapter on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, section on Van Gogh
- Movements: Renaissance, chapters on the Italian Renaissance
- Movements: Baroque, chapters on the Baroque period
- Movements: Impressionism, chapter on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
- Practitioners: Rembrandt, chapter on Dutch Golden Age painting, section on Rembrandt
- Practitioners: Frida Kahlo, chapter on twentieth century painting in the Americas, section on Kahlo
- Practitioners: Pablo Picasso, chapter on Cubism, section on Picasso
- Movements: Cubism, chapter on Cubism
- Movements: Surrealism, chapter on Surrealism
- Practitioners: Michelangelo, chapter on the High Renaissance, section on Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel ceiling
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.- Cave Painting / Cave Art, britannica.com/art/cave-painting
- Movements: Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Art
- Movements: Realism, Realism, britannica.com/art/realism-art
- Movements: Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism
- Movements: Pop Art, Pop Art
- Expressed In: Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Art
- Expressed In: Realism, Realism
- Expressed In: Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism
- Expressed In: Pop Art, Pop Art
View the Source Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 (Tate)
Symbolism, Art Movement (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaMovements: Symbolism, TheArtStory, Symbolism movement overview, Summary of Symbolism section (cross-checked against Britannica's own Symbolism, Art Movement entry already cited on this entity)Quote, Movements: Symbolism, TheArtStory, Symbolism movement overview, Summary of Symbolism section (cross-checked against Britannica's own Symbolism, Art Movement entry already cited on this entity)
Symbolism was both an artistic and a literary movement that suggested ideas through symbols and emphasized the meaning behind the forms, lines, shapes, and colors.
Open Questions (1 open question)
What is the precise dating and cultural purpose of the earliest Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, such as those at Altamira, Chauvet and Lascaux?
Scholars continue to dispute whether the earliest cave images functioned as ritual or shamanic imagery, hunting magic, or a more general symbolic or narrative practice, since no written record explains their purpose, and new dating techniques applied to cave sites in Europe continue to push proposed dates earlier.
What would resolve this Further advances in radiometric and uranium-series dating of mineral deposits overlying the pigment, combined with comparative anthropological study of extant hunter-gatherer ritual practice, could narrow both the dating and the interpretive question, though a definitive account of intent may never be recoverable.
Archaeology and paleoanthropologyEncyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between painting and drawing?
Painting applies pigment suspended in a liquid medium with a brush or knife, building color in layers; drawing uses a dry or semi-dry medium and relies more on line.
Painting applies pigment suspended in a liquid medium, such as oil, water, egg tempera or acrylic, to a surface with a brush, knife or other tool, building up color and tone in layers. Drawing typically uses a dry or semi-dry medium, such as pencil, charcoal or ink, to make marks that rely more on line than on blended color. The two overlap in some traditions, such as Chinese ink painting and pastel work, where a linear medium is used to build tonal fields.
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