The Painting reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Painting

A newer version of this article is available: see Painting at Schools Wikipedia
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Painting is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a carrier (or medium) and a binding agent (a glue) to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas or a wall. This is done by a painter; this term is used especially if this is his or her profession. Humans have been painting for about 6 times as long as they have been using written language.

Drawing, by comparison, is the process of making marks on a surface by applying pressure from or moving a tool on the surface.

Painting is also the utilitarian painting of objects and buildings. This is often done to provide a protective coating or for aesthetic reasons. One possible process for decorative painting of the walls of a room is found in Work breakdown structure.

More specifically this article is about the painting of a surface for artistic reasons, considered by many to be among the most important of the art forms.

Table of contents
1 History of Painting
2 Painting techniques
3 Paint mediums
4 Popular painting styles
5 Common painting idioms
6 List of painters
7 External links
8 See also

History of Painting

The oldest known paintings are at the Grotte Chauvet in France, dated at about 32,000 years old. They are engraved and painted using red ochre and black pigment and show horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalo and mammoth. There are examples of cave painting occurring all over the world.

Today, many of the world's most recognized works of art, such as the Mona Lisa, are paintings. There exists some slight controversy as to whether or not works of art produced in non-traditional ways, or with non-traditional materials, can properly be called paintings. In a general sense artists using sound, light, fireworks, ink-jet pigment, computer monitor pixels and even pastel or pencil all have the same intentions as the more expected water, oil, gouache or egg tempera painters. The resulting work of art is often referred to as a painting.

You can read more about the Origin of Art

Painting techniques

Painting techniques include:

Paint mediums

The medium is the vehicle that the pigment is suspended or embedded in. Almost all drawing mediums can be used in painting as well.

Examples include:

Popular painting styles

Painting styles can be characterized by the method of application (loose or tight) or by referring to the art movement that most closely matches the predominant characteristics that the painting expresses. They include:

Common painting idioms

Painting idioms include:

A proposed and yet-unrealised development in painting is four dimensional painting.



List of painters

Here is a growing list of painters too big for this page.

Shortcuts to highly popular painters:


External links

Art-related sites (sources of information for writing Wikipedia articles):

See also