Source - Wiki

Non-traditional elements[edit]
Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, which began with Cubism and is not painting in the strict sense. Some
modern painters incorporate different materials such as metal, plastic, sand, cement, straw, leaves or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean
Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer. There is a growing community of artists who use computers to "paint" color onto a digital "canvas" using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel
Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required.

Rhythm[edit]

Jean Metzinger, La danse (Bacchante) (c.1906), oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum

Jean Metzinger's mosaic-like Divisionist technique had its parallel in literature; a characteristic of the alliance between Symbolist writers and Neo-Impressionist artists:

I ask of divided brushwork not the objective rendering of light, but iridescences and certain aspects of color still foreign to painting. I make a kind of chromatic versification and for
syllables, I use strokes which, variable in quantity, cannot differ in dimension without modifying the rhythm of a pictorial phraseology destined to translate the diverse emotions
aroused by nature. (Jean Metzinger, circa 1907)[11]

Piet Mondrian, Composition en rouge, jaune, bleu et noir (1921), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

Rhythm, for artists such as Piet Mondrian,[12][13] is important in painting as it is in music. If one defines rhythm as "a pause incorporated into a sequence", then there can be rhythm
in paintings. These pauses allow creative force to intervene and add new creations—form, melody, coloration. The distribution of form or any kind of information is of crucial
importance in the given work of art, and it directly affects the aesthetic value of that work. This is because the aesthetic value is functionality dependent, i.e. the freedom (of
movement) of perception is perceived as beauty. Free flow of energy, in art as well as in other forms of "techne", directly contributes to the aesthetic value. [12]

Music was important to the birth of abstract art since music is abstract by nature—it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses in an immediate way the inner
feelings of the soul. Wassily Kandinsky often used musical terms to identify his works; he called his most spontaneous paintings "improvisations" and described more elaborate
works as "compositions". Kandinsky theorized that "music is the ultimate teacher," [14] and subsequently embarked upon the first seven of his ten Compositions. Hearing tones and
chords as he painted, Kandinsky theorized that (for example), yellow is the color of middle C on a brassy trumpet; black is the color of closure, and the end of things; and that
combinations of colors produce vibrational frequencies, akin to chords played on a piano. In 1871 the young Kandinsky learned to play the piano and cello. [15][16] Kandinsky's stage
design for a performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition illustrates his "synaesthetic" concept of a universal correspondence of forms, colors and musical sounds. [17]

Music defines much of modernist abstract painting. Jackson Pollock underscores that interest with his 1950 painting Autumn Rhythm (Number 30).[18]

Aesthetics and theory[edit]

Nino Pisano, Apelles or the Art of painting in detail (1334–1336); relief of the Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence, Italy

Aesthetics is the study of art and beauty; it was an important issue for 18th- and 19th-century philosophers such as Kant and Hegel. Classical philosophers
like Plato and Aristotle also theorized about art and painting in particular. Plato disregarded painters (as well as sculptors) in his philosophical system; he maintained that
painting cannot depict the truth—it is a copy of reality (a shadow of the world of ideas) and is nothing but a craft, similar to shoemaking or iron casting.[19] By the time of Leonardo,
painting had become a closer representation of the truth than painting was in Ancient Greece. Leonardo da Vinci, on the contrary, said that "Italian: La Pittura è cosa mentale"
("English: painting is a thing of the mind"). [20] Kant distinguished between Beauty and the Sublime, in terms that clearly gave priority to the former. [citation needed] Although he did not
refer to painting in particular, this concept was taken up by painters such as J.M.W. Turner and Caspar David Friedrich.

Hegel recognized the failure of attaining a universal concept of beauty and, in his aesthetic essay, wrote that painting is one of the three "romantic" arts, along
with Poetry and Music, for its symbolic, highly intellectual purpose.[21][22] Painters who have written theoretical works on painting include Kandinsky and Paul Klee.[23][24] In his essay,
Kandinsky maintains that painting has a spiritual value, and he attaches primary colors to essential feelings or concepts, something that Goethe and other writers had already
tried to do.

Iconography is the study of the content of paintings, rather than their style. Erwin Panofsky and other art historians first seek to understand the things depicted, before looking at
their meaning for the viewer at the time, and finally analyzing their wider cultural, religious, and social meaning. [25]

In 1890, the Parisian painter Maurice Denis famously asserted: "Remember that a painting—before being a warhorse, a naked woman or some story or other—is essentially a
flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." [26] Thus, many 20th-century developments in painting, such as Cubism, were reflections on the means of painting
rather than on the external world—nature—which had previously been its core subject. Recent contributions to thinking about painting have been offered by the painter and
writer Julian Bell. In his book What is Painting?, Bell discusses the development, through history, of the notion that paintings can express feelings and ideas. [27] In Mirror of The
World, Bell writes:

A work of art seeks to hold your attention and keep it fixed: a history of art urges it onwards, bulldozing a highway through the homes of the imagination. [28]

Painting media[edit]
Different types of paint are usually identified by the medium that the pigment is suspended or embedded in, which determines the general working characteristics of the paint,
such as viscosity, miscibility, solubility, drying time, etc.

Oil[edit]
Honoré Daumier, The Painter (1808–1879), oil on panel with visible brushstrokes

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil, such as linseed oil, which was widely used in early modern Europe. Often the oil
was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Oil paint eventually became the principal
medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe, and by the height of
the Renaissance oil painting techniques had almost completely replaced tempera paints in the majority of Europe.

Pastel[edit]

Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Portrait of Louis XV of France (1748), pastel

Pastel is a painting medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. [29] The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all
colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other
process.[30] Because the surface of a pastel painting is fragile and easily smudged, its preservation requires protective measures such as framing under glass; it may also be
sprayed with a fixative. Nonetheless, when made with permanent pigments and properly cared for, a pastel painting may endure unchanged for centuries. Pastels are not
susceptible, as are paintings made with a fluid medium, to the cracking and discoloration that result from changes in the color, opacity, or dimensions of the medium as it dries.

Acrylic[edit]

Ray Burggraf, Jungle Arc (1998), acrylic paint on wood

Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry.
Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting,
or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media. The main practical difference between most acrylics and oil paints is the inherent drying time. Oils allow for
more time to blend colors and apply even glazes over under-paintings. This slow drying aspect of oil can be seen as an advantage for certain techniques, but may also impede
the artist's ability to work quickly.

Watercolor[edit]
John Martin, Manfred on the Jungfrau (1837), watercolor

Watercolor is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle. The traditional and most common support for watercolor
paintings is paper; other supports include papyrus, bark papers, plastics, vellum or leather, fabric, wood and canvas. In East Asia, watercolor painting with inks is referred to
as brush painting or scroll painting. In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese painting it has been the dominant medium, often in monochrome black or browns. India, Ethiopia and
other countries also have long traditions. Finger-painting with watercolor paints originated in China. There are various types of watercolors used by artists. Some examples are
pan watercolors, liquid watercolors, watercolor brush pens, and watercolor pencils. [31] Watercolor pencils (water-soluble color pencils) may be used either wet or dry.

Ink[edit]

Sesshū Tōyō, Landscapes of the Four Seasons (1486), ink and light color on paper

Ink paintings are done with a liquid that contains pigments or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing with a pen, brush,
or quill. Ink can be a complex medium, composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particulate matter, fluorescers, and other materials.
The components of inks serve many purposes; the ink's carrier, colorants, and other additives control flow and thickness of the ink and its appearance when dry.

Hot wax or encaustic[edit]

Encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Egypt (6th-century)

Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface—usually
prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. The simplest encaustic mixture can be made from adding pigments to beeswax, but there are several other
recipes that can be used—some containing other types of waxes, damar resin, linseed oil, or other ingredients. Pure, powdered pigments can be purchased and used, though
some mixtures use oil paints or other forms of pigment. Metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint before it cools, or heated metal tools can be used to
manipulate the wax once it has cooled onto the surface. Other materials can be encased or collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic medium to adhere it to the
surface.
The technique was the normal one for ancient Greek and Roman panel paintings, and remained in use in the Eastern Orthodox icon tradition.

Fresco[edit]

White Angel (fresco), Mileševa monastery, Serbia

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco [afˈfresːko], which derives from
the Latin word for fresh. Frescoes were often made during the Renaissance and other early time periods. Buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water
on a thin layer of wet, fresh lime mortar or plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster, intonaco, is used. A secco painting, in contrast, is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in
Italian). The pigments require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall.

Gouache[edit]
Gouache is a water-based paint consisting of pigment and other materials designed to be used in an opaque painting method. Gouache differs from  watercolor in that the
particles are larger, the ratio of pigment to water is much higher, and an additional, inert, white pigment such as chalk is also present. This makes gouache heavier and more
opaque, with greater reflective qualities. Like all watermedia, it is diluted with water. [32]

Enamel[edit]

Jean de Court (attributed), painted Limoges enamel dish in detail (mid-16th century), Waddesdon Bequest, British Museum

Enamels are made by painting a substrate, typically metal, with powdered glass; minerals called color oxides provide coloration. After firing at a temperature of 750–850 degrees
Celsius (1380–1560 degrees Fahrenheit), the result is a fused lamination of glass and metal. Unlike most painted techniques, the surface can be handled and wetted Enamels
have traditionally been used for decoration of precious objects, [33] but have also been used for other purposes. Limoges enamel was the leading centre of Renaissance enamel
painting, with small religious and mythological scenes in decorated surrounds, on plaques or