Painting - view visual arts, which is divided into six types. All six types are characterized by the creation of an image by applying paint to any surface.

1. Easel painting is a painting that is applied to canvas, boards or other surface. Easel painting does not depend on the place of writing, that is, depicting paints on a wall or any objects and surfaces of a certain area does not belong to easel painting. Easel painting is created using various paints: oil, acrylic paints, tempera and others. More often easel painting created on canvas, which is stretched over a frame or glued to cardboard.

Monumental painting- this is a type of painting when an image is applied directly to walls, ceilings, and surfaces of buildings and structures using paints. TO monumental painting Also includes fresco (painting on wet plaster).

Decorative painting- a method of decorative decoration of walls, interior items, furniture. Refers to decorative and applied arts. This also includes monumental and decorative painting (decorative painting on walls, panels).

Theatrical and decorative painting or Decorative painting - picturesque decoration of walls, interior items, furniture (scenery) and so on in theatrical productions.

Miniature painting - paintings small forms. In miniature, paints are applied to the surfaces of small forms - on porcelain, bone, stone, wood, metal, etc.

Iconography- painting on religious themes.

Painting in fine arts divided into genres. There are a large number of such genres. As an example, what genres of painting are: portrait, landscape, still life, historical and battle painting, religious and mythological painting, marina, animalism, figurative painting and so on.

Painting is divided not only into types and genres, but also directions: classicism, romanticism, academicism, realism, modernism, expressionism, abstractionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, suprematism, surrealism, pop art and others.

Also painting divided into techniques, which are characterized by the ways and methods of creating images by the artist - the method of application, the type of paint, the method of preparing the canvas or other surface: encaustic (with wax), tempera (with egg), watercolor painting, painting with gouache, acrylic, pastel, grattage, glaze, pointillism, dry brush painting, painting with ceramic and silicate paints, sfumato, sgraffito, carnation, mixed media and so on.

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“Art is the same need for a person as eating and drinking. The need for beauty and creativity, which embodies it, is inseparable from man,” wrote F. M. Dostoevsky.

Indeed, history shows that man has always been inseparable from art. In the mountains, in caves different countries the world's ancient preserved rock paintings. These expressive drawings of animals and hunters were made back in the days when people could not write.

Monuments of art tell us what enormous significance it had in the life of man and human society. The ancient Greeks created a wonderful myth about the muses - eternally young sisters who personified the arts and sciences. Melpomene is the muse of tragedy, Thalia - comedy, Terpsichore - dancing, Clio - the muse of history... The myth tells that when the god Apollo - the patron of art, poetry and music - appeared accompanied by the muses, then all nature listened to their singing... Music, museum - these the words come from the word Muse.

The poetic myth about the sister muses has not lost its meaning. Each art form has its own means of expression: in music it is sound, in fine arts it is color, line, etc., in literature it is a word. But the related essence of all types is that art is one of the forms public consciousness, which is based on figurative reflection phenomena of reality.

Fine arts related to visual perception include: painting, graphics and sculpture. These arts create an image on a plane (painting and graphics) and in space (sculpture).

A painting, drawing, print, sculpture that has independent meaning, that is, not associated with any artistic ensemble or for purely practical purposes, we call easel works. This definition comes from the word “machine” (in this case, easel), on which the canvas is placed when a picture is painted. And even the fact that the painting must be inserted into a frame emphasizes the independence, that is, the isolation of easel painting from environment. The frame separates the painting and creates the opportunity to perceive it as an independent artistic whole. Some easel paintings are reproduced in the book.

Unlike easel monumental painting in its purpose and nature it is connected with the architectural ensemble. Frescoes, mosaics, panels, stained glass windows are organically included in the architecture, complementing and enriching decoration interior or entire building. Excellent examples of monumental painting are the frescoes of Raphael in Vatican Palace, Michelangelo's paintings Sistine Chapel. Monumental painting reached its highest level in the Byzantine and ancient Russian art.

Nowadays, monumental painting is widely used in palaces of culture, clubs, theaters, metro stations, train stations, etc. Many of you have seen mosaics in the metro, created according to sketches by P. Korin, A. Deineka and others Soviet masters. Interior paintings of the Bus Station and the Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow (artist Yu. Korolev), paintings of the Tsiolkovsky Museum in Kaluga (a group of artists led by A. Vasnetsov), stained glass windows by Lithuanian masters, embossed panels Georgian artists decorated many new buildings in our cities.

The monumental art of modern Mexico has gained international fame. Mosaics of Siqueiros and others major artists reflect the heroic struggle of the Mexican people for their independence.

It is not always possible to draw a sharp line between an easel and a monumental work of art. This is explained by the fact that easel painting often has a monumental quality. A monumental works sometimes they have independent meaning, being perceived as finished easel paintings.

There is also a very large area of ​​decorative and applied arts. These are artistically made furniture, dishes, clothing, fabrics, carpets, embroidery, jewelry, etc. However, some types of decorative and applied art (tapestry, embossing, decorative sculpture) can also be considered as independent works. Painting that is intended to decorate or reveal the design and purpose of an object and does not clearly have independent meaning is called decorative.

Thus, painting is divided into easel, monumental and decorative.

The main advantage of easel oil painting is that it is easy to move from place to place.

Every artistic work requires a base. The base on which the painters painted was originally wood - poplar, ash, walnut, willow. Then, in antiquity, wood replaces canvas. First, the canvas is glued and then primed with a dense layer of a special mixture. An image is painted onto a primed canvas. From the second half of the 16th century, copper boards appeared. Their advantage was that they did not allow the penetration of air, which was harmful to oil paints.

Each base requires a special primer. The purpose of the primer is to level and smooth the surface of the base in order to prevent binders from being absorbed into the base, and also to participate with its tone in the color of the picture.

Oil painting is one of the painting techniques that uses paints with vegetable oil as the main binder. Oil paints consist of dry pigments and drying oil. Use flaxseed oil, poppy seed oil or walnut oil. The base can be wood, plywood, cardboard, paper, canvas. Do not dilute or wash off with water. takes a long time to dry, layers dry with at different speeds. colors are easily mixed, the ability to create complex color transitions and developed colors.

Ticket number 12. Easel painting. Pastel

An easel painting is an independent work of painting, free from any decorative functions and executed on an easel or machine.

Easel painting is a type of painting, which, unlike monumental,

not related to architecture, has an independent character.

The term “easel painting” comes from the machine (easel) on which paintings are created.

Pastel

Few binders ( Binders:

a substance that is part of the paint and determines its basic properties, with the exception of the color tone, which is due to the pigment.

The main purpose is to bind particles of pigment and primer together to create a stable and cohesive paint layer, thereby ensuring the safety of the paint.)

High degree hiding power

Freedom at work

ALGORITHM FOR CREATION OF EASEL PAINTING

Features of the work of old masters and artists of new times.

1. Ink drawing

2. Underpainting

3. Glaze

Ticket number 13. Easel painting. Watercolor and gouache

Easel painting is a type of painting that, unlike monumental painting, is not related to architecture and has an independent character. The term “easel painting” comes from the machine (easel) on which paintings are created.

ALGORITHM FOR CREATION OF EASEL PAINTING

Old masters – work in three stages:

· Ink drawing

· Underpainting

· Glaze

Artists of modern times (from the 17th century) – the indivisibility of the painting process (impasto).

Gouache
Gouache is a painting made with opaque, dense and covering adhesive paints mixed with white. The word gouache is from the Italian guazzo, meaning "wet".

Sources from the 16th century mention gouache painting. During the Renaissance, gouache was used to create illustrations, highlight drawings, paint fans, snuff boxes, etc.

Since the 18th century, gouache painting has been improving and becoming a widespread type of painting. It is used for writing preparatory cardboards, decorative sketches, illustrations and easel works. Unlike watercolors, gouache is opaque because the paints contain white.

Watercolor
Watercolor was known in ancient times, but until the 17th century it had no independent meaning; it was used for coloring drawings, rough sketches, etc.

Watercolor acquired independent significance in painting starting from the 17th century. Paintings made in watercolors are completely finished works of fine art with a fairly deeply developed manner and technique of painting. Among the Russian watercolor painters, K. Bryullov, Sokolov, Benois, Vrubel, Savinsky and others are famous.

Ticket number 14. Easel painting. Tempera

From linear-plane style to the illusion of space. The role of direct and light perspective
Easy to move from place to place. The basis was originally wood - poplar, ash, walnut, willow. Then the tree replaces the canvas. First, the canvas is glued and then primed with a dense layer of a special mixture. An image is applied to a primed canvas with paints.
Easel painting has many genres. The most important of them are subject painting, portrait, landscape and still life.
They will be divided into linear-planar and volumetric-spatial, but there are no clear boundaries between them. Linear-plane painting is characterized by flat spots of local color, outlined by expressive contours, clear and rhythmic lines; In this type of painting, spatial relationships can be reproduced with color, the illusion of deep three-dimensional space can be created, the pictorial plane can be visually destroyed with the help of tonal gradations, airy and linear perspective, by distributing warm and cold colors; volumetric forms are modeled with color and light and shade.
In volumetric-spatial and linear-planar images, the expressiveness of line and color is used, and the effect of volume, even sculpture, is achieved by gradation of light and dark tones distributed in a clearly limited color spot; At the same time, the coloring is often motley, figures and objects do not merge with the surrounding space into a single whole.
Light perspective is determined by the distance to the light source and the position of the object in relation to it.
Direct perspective - designed for a fixed point of view and assuming a single vanishing point on the horizon line (objects decrease proportionally as they move away from the foreground).
Light perspective characterizes the distance of objects from the light source. It occurs in conditions of uneven lighting.

Ticket number 15. Color in painting

Color- a qualitative subjective characteristic of electromagnetic radiation in the optical range, determined on the basis of the emerging physiological visual sensation and depending on a number of physical, physiological and psychological factors.

It's visible electromagnetic radiation, a wave of a certain length.

Color options:

1. Tone (color name – red, blue, yellow, etc.)

1. Saturation

3. Lightness

4.Temperature: warm and cool colors

Color circle:

Includes everything visible colors spectrum and is built as a system of continuous color transition.

Primary colors- red, yellow, blue.
Composite colors- second order colors: green, purple, orange. They are obtained by mixing pairs of primary colors: red, yellow and blue.
Complex colors are obtained by mixing three component colors with adjacent primary colors. For example: orange + yellow = yellow-orange. There are six such colors.
The complex color triad can be one of these combinations:
red-orange, yellow-green and blue-violet;
blue-green, yellow-orange and red-violet.
On color wheel they are all at the same distance from each other, occupying an intermediate position between the component colors.

Related colors- belong to any one quarter of the circle.

Contrasting (complementary) colors- are located on diametrically opposite sides of the circle.

Hue- tone gradation; the difference in color as it transitions from cold to warm and vice versa.

Nuance- a very subtle shade of color or a very slight transition from light to shadow, etc.

Saturation (intensity) – characterizes the degree of purity of a color tone. The concept operates in the division of one tone, where the degree of saturation is measured by the degree of difference from gray. This concept is also related to brightness, since the most saturated tone in its line will be the brightest.

Lively, strong, deep richness.

Unsaturated colors are dull, weak, washed out.

The degree of color difference from white and black. If the difference between the detected color and black is greater than between it and white, then the color is light. If it’s the other way around, it’s dark. If the difference between black and white is equal, then the color is medium in lightness.

Ticket number 16. Perspective

Fr. perspective from lat. perspicere - look through - a technique for depicting spatial objects on a plane or any surface in accordance with those apparent reductions in their sizes, changes in shape and light-and-shadow relationships that are observed in the surrounding (real) world.

Types of perspective

1. Direct perspective - a type of perspective designed for a fixed point of view and assuming a single vanishing point on the horizon line (objects decrease proportionally as they move away from the foreground).

Vanishing point - a point on a perspective image at which the projections of lines parallel in the subject space intersect.

2. Reverse perspective - a type of perspective used in Byzantine and Old Russian painting, in which the depicted objects appear to increase in size as they move away from the viewer, the picture has several horizons and points of view, and other features - as if the center of convergence of the lines is not on the horizon, but inside the viewer himself.

3. Panoramic perspective - an image constructed on an internal cylindrical (sometimes spherical) surface.

4. Aerial perspective- characterized by the disappearance of clarity and clarity of the outlines of objects as they move away from the observer’s eyes (sfumato-haze effect). Wherein long shot characterized by a decrease in color saturation (color loses its brightness, light and shadow contrasts soften), thus the depth appears darker than the foreground. Aerial perspective is associated with changes in tones, which is why it can also be called tonal perspective.

5. Spherical perspective is a type of perspective in which the viewer’s eyes are always as if in the center of the “reflection” on the ball. This is the position of the main point, which is not really tied to either the horizon level or the main vertical. When depicting objects in spherical perspective, all depth lines will have a vanishing point at the main point and will remain strictly straight. The main vertical and the horizon line will also be strictly straight. All other lines will bend more and more as they move away from the main point, transforming into a circle. Each line that does not pass through the center, being extended, is a semi-ellipse.

- this is one of the main types of fine art; represents artistic image objective world colored paints on the surface. Painting is divided into: easel, monumental and decorative.

- mainly represented by works done with oil paints on canvas (cardboard, wooden boards or bare). Represents the most mass appearance painting. It is this type that is usually applied to the term " painting".

is a technique of painting on walls when decorating buildings and architectural elements in buildings. Particularly common in Europe fresco - monumental painting on wet plaster with water-soluble paints. This drawing technique has been well known since antiquity. Later, this technique was used in the design of many Christian religious churches and their vaults.

Decorative painting — (from the Latin word from decoro - to decorate) is a way of drawing and applying images to objects and interior details, walls, furniture and other decorative objects. Refers to decorative and applied arts.

The possibilities of pictorial art have been especially clearly revealed by easel painting since the 15th century, since the mass use of oil paints. It is in it that a special variety of content and deeply developed form is available. At the heart of the picturesque artistic means colors (the possibilities of paints) lie in inextricable unity with chiaroscuro and line; color and chiaroscuro are developed and developed by painting techniques with a completeness and brightness inaccessible to other types of art. This determines the perfection of volumetric and spatial modeling inherent in realistic painting, the vivid and accurate rendering of reality, the possibility of realizing the plots conceived by the artist (and methods of constructing compositions) and other visual advantages.

Another difference in the differences between types of painting is the technique of execution according to the types of paints. Not always enough common features for determining. The border between painting and graphics in each special case: For example, works done in watercolor or pastel can belong to both fields, depending on the artist’s approach and goals. Although drawings on paper are related to graphics, the use various techniques Painting sometimes blurs the differences between painting and graphics.

It must be taken into account that the semantic term “painting” itself is a word in the Russian language. It was taken for use as a term during the formation of fine art in Russia during the Baroque era. The use of the word "painting" at that time applied only to a certain type of realistic painting. But originally it comes from the church technique of painting icons, which uses the word “write” (related to writing) because this word is a translation of the meaning in Greek texts (those are “lost in translation”). Development in Russia of its own art school and the inheritance of European academic knowledge in the field of art, developed the scope of the Russian word “painting”, incorporating it into educational terminology and literary language. But in the Russian language, a peculiarity of the meaning of the verb “to write” was formed in relation to writing and drawing pictures.

Genres of painting

In the course of the development of fine art, several classical genres of paintings were formed, which acquired their own characteristics and rules.

Portrait is a realistic depiction of a person in which the artist tries to achieve a resemblance to the original. One of the most popular genres of painting. Most customers used the talent of artists to perpetuate their own image or, wanting to get an image loved one, relative, etc. Customers sought to obtain a portrait likeness (or even embellish it) leaving a visual embodiment in history. Portraits various styles are the most massive part of the exhibition of most art museums and private collections. This genre includes such a type of portrait as self-portrait - an image of the artist himself, painted by himself.

Scenery- one of the popular painting genres in which the artist seeks to depict nature, its beauty or peculiarity. Different kinds nature (the mood of the season and weather) have a strong emotional impact on any viewer - this psychological feature person. The desire to get an emotional impression from landscapes has made this genre one of the most popular in artistic creativity.

- this genre is in many ways similar to landscape, but has a key feature: the paintings depict landscapes with architectural objects, buildings or cities. A special focus is street views of cities that convey the atmosphere of a place. Another direction of this genre is the depiction of the beauty of the architecture of a particular building - its appearance or images of its interiors.

- a genre in which the main subject of the paintings is historical event or its interpretation by the artist. What’s interesting is that a huge number of paintings on a biblical theme belong to this genre. Since in the Middle Ages biblical stories were considered “historical” events and the main customers of these paintings were the church. “Historical” biblical subjects are present in the works of most artists. Second birth historical painting occurs during the times of neoclassicism, when artists turn to well-known historical subjects, events from antiquity or national legends.

- reflects scenes of wars and battles. The peculiarity is not only the desire to reflect a historical event, but also to convey to the viewer the emotional elevation of feat and heroism. Subsequently, this genre also becomes political, allowing the artist to convey to the viewer his view (his attitude) on what is happening. We can see a similar effect of political emphasis and the strength of the artist’s talent in the work of V. Vereshchagin.

is a genre of painting with compositions from inanimate objects, using flowers, products, and dishes. This genre is one of the latest and was formed in the Dutch school of painting. Perhaps its appearance is caused by the peculiarity of the Dutch school. The economic boom of the 17th century in Holland led to a desire for affordable luxury (paintings) among a significant number of the population. This situation attracted a large number of artists to Holland, causing intense competition among them. Models and workshops (people in appropriate clothes) were not available to poor artists. When painting paintings for sale, they used improvised means (objects) to compose the paintings. This situation in the history of the Dutch school is the reason for the development of genre painting.

Genre painting - the subject of the paintings are everyday scenes Everyday life or holidays, usually with the participation ordinary people. Just like still life, it became widespread among Dutch artists in the 17th century. During the period of romanticism and neoclassicism, this genre takes on a new birth; paintings strive not so much to reflect everyday life, but to romanticize it, to bring it into the plot certain meaning or morality.

Marina- a type of landscape in which images are depicted marine species, coastal landscapes overlooking the sea, sunrises and sunsets at sea, ships or even naval battles. Although there is also a separate battle genre, but naval battles still belong to the “marina” genre. The development and popularization of this genre can also be attributed to the Dutch school of the 17th century. He was popular in Russia thanks to the work of Aivazovsky.

— a feature of this genre is the creation realistic paintings, depicting the beauty of animals and birds. One of interesting features This genre is the presence of paintings depicting non-existent or mythical animals. Artists who specialize in images of animals are called animalists.

History of painting

The need for realistic images has existed since ancient times, but had a number of disadvantages due to the lack of technology, systematic schools and education. In ancient times, one can more often find examples of applied and monumental painting with the technique of drawing on plaster. During antiquity, higher value given to the talent of the performer, artists were limited in the technology of making paints and the opportunity to receive a systematic education. But already in antiquity, specialized knowledge and works were formed (Vitruvius), which will be the basis for a new flourishing European art during the Renaissance. Decorative painting received significant development during Greek and Roman antiquity (the school was lost in the Middle Ages), the level of which was reached only after the 15th century.

Painting of a Roman fresco (Pompeii, 1st century BC), an example of the level of technology of ancient painting:

The "Dark Ages" of the Middle Ages, militant Christianity and the Inquisition lead to bans on the study of the artistic heritage of antiquity. The vast experience of ancient masters, knowledge in the field of proportions, composition, architecture and sculpture are banned, and many artistic treasures are destroyed because of their dedication to ancient deities. A return to the values ​​of art and science in Europe occurs only during the Renaissance (rebirth).

Artists of the early Renaissance (revival) had to catch up and revive the achievements and level of ancient artists. What we admire in the works of artists early Renaissance, was the level of the masters of Rome. A clear example of the loss of several centuries of development of European art (and civilization) during the “Dark Ages” of the Middle Ages, militant Christianity and the Inquisition - the difference between these 14th century paintings!

The emergence and spread of the technology for making oil paints and the technique of painting with them in the 15th century gave rise to the development of easel painting and a special type of artist’s products - color paintings with oil paints on primed canvas or wood.

Painting received a huge leap in qualitative development during the Renaissance, largely thanks to the work of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). He was the first to set out the foundations of perspective in painting (the treatise “On Painting” of 1436). The European art school owes to him (his work on systematizing scientific knowledge) the emergence (revival) of realistic perspective and natural proportions in artists’ paintings. A famous and familiar drawing by Leonardo da Vinci "Vitruvian Man"(human proportions) of 1493, dedicated to the systematization of Vitruvius’ ancient knowledge of proportions and composition, was created by Leonardo half a century later than Alberti’s treatise “On Painting”. And Leonardo’s work is a continuation of the development of the European (Italian) art school of the Renaissance.

But painting received a bright and massive development starting from the 16th-17th centuries, when the technique became widespread oil painting, various technologies for making paints appeared and schools of painting were formed. It is the system of knowledge and art education(drawing technique), combined with the demand for works of art among the aristocracy and monarchs, leads to a rapid flowering of fine art in Europe (Baroque period).

The unlimited financial capabilities of European monarchies, aristocracies and entrepreneurs became excellent soil for the further development of painting in the 17th-19th centuries. And the weakening influence of the church and a secular lifestyle (multiplied by the development of Protestantism) allowed the birth of many subjects, styles and movements in painting (Baroque and Rococo).

In the course of the development of fine arts, artists have formed many styles and techniques that lead to to the highest level realism in works. By the end of the 19th century (with the advent of modernist movements), interesting transformations began in painting. The availability of art education, mass competition and high demands on artists' skills by the public (and buyers) are giving rise to new directions in methods of expression. Fine art is no longer limited only by the level of technique; artists strive to introduce special meanings, ways of “looking” and philosophy into works. What often comes at the expense of the level of performance, becomes speculation or a method of shocking. The variety of emerging styles, lively discussions and even scandals give rise to the development of interest in new forms of painting.

Modern computer (digital) drawing technologies belong to graphics and cannot be called painting, although many computer programs and equipment allow you to completely repeat any painting technique with paints.

Easel painting is a technique where paint is applied to a movable surface in order to create an independent painting. The name of this type comes from the word “loom,” which is most often an artist’s easel. Today easel painting is the most widespread art.

Thanks to the mobility of the works, the paintings became accessible to a wide audience. Also, thanks to the ability to move canvases, the restoration of easel paintings is greatly facilitated, especially in comparison with works of monumental art.

Types of painting

Painting is one of the most ancient ways of self-expression and conveying one’s own vision of reality. She teaches how to portray the world with the help of visual images, techniques and techniques that make up the language of fine art. It has been created and developed by artists and theorists over thousands of years, and today it allows modern painters to create their own “narrative.”

Traditionally, the following types of painting are distinguished:

• Decorative - created to decorate surfaces and objects that serve another purpose. This painting is used in the interior, on furniture, accessories, clothing, etc.
• Theater - creating scenery and costumes for productions.
• Monumental - performed on fixed surfaces of buildings, both facade and interior. It is the most ancient type of art, traditionally called fresco. Monumental painting also includes mosaics, stained glass and panels.
• Easel art exists regardless of where it was created. This is the most widespread, developed and genre-rich type of painting.

Definition and characteristics of easel painting

An easel work is an independent object of art. It can move in space and even cross state borders. That's what it is main characteristic easel painting is that it should not be tied to the place of creation.

A painting is the subject and result of such art. Today there is no unanimous opinion about which techniques and materials are considered to be easel painting and which are considered graphics. We will adhere to the opinion that easel painting is the application of any type of paint to any movable surface, regardless of material and size. Thus, works created in watercolor, gouache and even pastel are examples of this technique.

Story

The history of easel painting began with the use of stone slabs and wooden panels. The works that laid the foundation modern understanding such art - icons. The oldest non-stationary image of Christ dates back to the 6th century and was made on a wooden panel covered with specially treated fabric.

The first paintings on wood were of a religious nature, but were not icons. The innovator of easel painting was the representative of the Proto-Renaissance era, Giotto di Bondone. He created several works - all of them were done in tempera on thin poplar wood panels covered with canvas treated with a mixture of plaster and animal glue. This technology was used to create icons in Byzantium.

Types of easel painting

Depending on the materials used to create the painting, easel painting is divided into several types:

• Based on the type of surface, paintings are distinguished on canvas, cardboard, paper, wood, silk, parchment, metal panels and stone. As a basis for easel painting Almost any mobile surface that does not perform any additional functions will do.
• Depending on the paints used, easel painting can be oil, watercolor, tempera, acrylic and pastel. Less commonly used are compositions such as gouache and ink.

In addition, easel painting allows the use of a number of auxiliary materials, such as brushes, sponges, rollers, cardboard strips, palette knives and aerosol cans.

Features of the performance technique

With the development of art, the technology of easel painting has also changed. The modern world is expanding access to knowledge and materials, providing fertile ground for experimentation and the search for new opportunities. Today, easel paintings can be created using stencils and patterns. Colors are extracted from new materials and pigments. It’s hard not to get lost in such a whirlpool of funds and resources.

However, oil paintings, as well as easel tempera painting, have gone through centuries of development. That is why today there is a traditional, or academic, technique of easel painting, which involves following a number of rules and traditions. Oil paints are the most popular due to their ease of application and ability to retain colors for a long time. Tempera, in turn, is more complex. The technique of creating easel tempera painting has a number of specific rules - for example, darkening the tone of a pigment is best achieved by shading or applying one layer to another.

Genres of easel painting

The genre richness of easel painting is due to its mobility. After all, it is easier to move an easel into the forest than trees indoors. Thus, easel painting expands the possibilities for painting canvases from life. This is especially important for genres such as landscape, portrait and still life.

Among those that had the greatest influence on the formation and development of easel painting, it is necessary to highlight religious and mythological genres, as well as historical, portrait and subject. For modern easel painting, portraits, landscapes and still lifes are of particular importance.

Portrait

This genre is very dynamic, sometimes its boundaries blur and merge with genres such as mythological, allegorical and religious. The essence of a portrait is to use artistic means to depict on canvas a person with his characteristic forms, facial features and character traits.

In easel painting appearance model, its tangible and visible characteristics merge with internal features, characterizing it. All this is directly dependent on the author’s perception, as well as the artist’s connection with the model and the portrait.

Scenery

Works made in this genre depict nature. Like portraits, landscapes often blur the boundaries of strict genre definitions and characteristics. Probably due to the fact that for many centuries it was used only as a filler of space in a painting, now that it is an independent genre, it is still used to create a background in works of other genres.

The landscape depicts nature in several of its guises - untouched by man, transformed by man and interacting with him. Among the subgenres it is worth noting sea, city and rural landscapes.

Still life

From French this name is translated as “dead nature”. This genre of easel painting focuses on the depiction of inanimate objects. As an independent technique, still life took shape in the 17th century thanks to the efforts of Northern European masters. During the Renaissance it was popular in decorative painting and often became a decoration for furniture and dishes.

Other popular genres of easel painting include everyday life, illustration, allegory and animal painting.