Art Glossary

Acrylic painting uses synthetic polymer emulsion as a binder. Learn how Pollock, Rothko, and Hockney adopted a mid-20th-century medium that dries in minutes and resists water.

Alla prima is wet-on-wet painting completed in a single session. From Frans Hals to Monet to Sargent, learn the history and technique of direct painting.

Broken color places pure, unmixed strokes side by side to blend in the eye. Learn how Monet, Van Gogh, and Seurat used this technique for brighter, vibrating color.

Camaieu is painting in shades of a single color other than gray. From ancient Pompeii to Renaissance palaces to porcelain decoration, learn this monochrome technique.

Casein is paint made from milk protein, used since ancient Egypt. Learn how Klimt, Warhol, and Native American artists used a fast-drying medium that dries hard and matte.

Chiaroscuro is the use of strong light-dark contrast to model form and create drama. From Leonardo to Caravaggio to Rembrandt, learn how it shaped Western painting.

Divisionism is Seurat's theory of separating colors into individual strokes for optical mixing. Learn its history, key artists, and how it shaped modern art.

Dry brush is a painting technique using minimal paint on a dry brush to create broken, textured strokes. From Durer to Wyeth, learn how it works.

Encaustic is painting with pigmented hot beeswax, an ancient technique used for Egyptian mummy portraits. Learn how the Fayum painters and Jasper Johns used molten wax as paint.

Fat over lean is the oil painting rule that each layer should contain more oil than the one beneath. Learn the science behind why it prevents cracking and delamination.

Glazing is the application of thin transparent oil paint layers over dry paint to create luminosity and depth. From Van Eyck to Rembrandt, learn how it works.

Gouache is opaque watercolor made with heavier pigment and chalk filler. Learn how Durer, Goya, and Matisse used a medium that lets you paint light over dark on paper.

Grisaille is painting entirely in shades of gray, often to simulate stone sculpture. From Van Eyck to Goya, learn how this monochrome technique shaped Western art.

Halation is the optical glow that appears where light meets dark in a painting. Learn how Baroque painters used dark halos and warm edges to make light appear to radiate.

Impasto mediums are additives that thicken oil and acrylic paint for visible texture. Learn what they contain, how they work, and how Rembrandt and Van Gogh used them.

Impasto is paint applied so thickly it catches light and casts shadows. Learn how Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Auerbach used this textured technique in oil painting.

Imprimatura is a thin toned layer applied to a painting support before painting begins. Learn its history from the Renaissance to Rubens and why it matters.

Ink wash is painting with ink diluted in water to create tonal gradations. Learn how Wang Wei, Sesshu Toyo, and contemporary artists use a medium where every stroke is permanent.

A mahl stick is a padded stick that steadies a painter's hand while working on detail. Learn its history from 16th-century studios to Vermeer and why some painters still use one.

A painting medium is any substance added to paint to change its properties. From stand oil and dammar to modern alkyd gels, learn how mediums shape oil painting.

Oil painting is pigment suspended in drying oil, most often linseed. Learn how Van Eyck, Rembrandt, and Monet used the slow-drying medium that dominated European art for 500 years.

The palette knife is a flat-bladed tool for mixing and applying paint. Learn its history from medieval amassettes to Van Gogh, Courbet, and contemporary impasto painting.

The palette is the flat surface where painters mix colors before applying them. Learn its history, shapes, materials, and how artists from Vermeer to Monet arranged their paints.

Photorealism is painting that mimics photography with extreme precision. Learn how Chuck Close, Richard Estes, and Ralph Goings defined this American movement.

Plein air is painting outdoors directly from nature. Learn how the paint tube, Valenciennes, Constable, and Monet turned outdoor observation into a revolution in painting.

Pointillism is Seurat's technique of applying small dots of pure color that blend in the viewer's eye. Learn its history, key artists, and how to spot it.

Scumbling is dragging thin broken layers of opaque paint over a darker dry layer for texture, haze, and soft light. From Titian to Turner, learn how it works.

Sfumato is Leonardo da Vinci's technique of gradual tonal blending with no visible lines. Learn how he used it in the Mona Lisa and Virgin of the Rocks.

Sgraffito is scratching through a surface layer to reveal a contrasting color beneath. Learn its history from Renaissance facades to pottery to contemporary painting.

Tempera is paint made with egg yolk as a binder, the dominant medium in European painting before oil. Learn how Botticelli, Fra Angelico, and Andrew Wyeth used this ancient technique.

Tenebrism is Caravaggio's extreme chiaroscuro, where darkness dominates and light cuts through like a spotlight. Learn its history, artists, and how to spot it.

Underpainting is the foundational layer beneath a painting's surface. Learn about grisaille, verdaccio, dead coloring, and how Vermeer and Rembrandt used it.

Verdaccio is a greenish underpainting used to create lifelike flesh tones. Learn how Renaissance painters from Giotto to Michelangelo used green earth beneath warm skin colors.

Watercolor is transparent paint made of pigment and gum arabic, applied with water on paper. Learn how Durer, Turner, and Homer used a medium that rewards directness and punishes hesitation.

Wet-on-dry is applying fresh paint over a dried layer for sharp edges and controlled building. Learn how oil and acrylic painters use it for glazing and detail work.

Wet-on-wet is painting into still-wet paint so colors blend on the surface. Learn how oil paint's slow drying made this technique central to alla prima and plein air.