FREE online courses on the Art Appreciation Basics - Analyzing the subject of a painting - Linear vs Painterly

 

So you're standing there, you've already attracted a crowd by talking loudly about figure/ground and classic vs. romantic. You've got 'em eating out of your hand. Where to go now? Linear vs. painterly. An easy way to categorize works as either classic or romantic is by identifying the use of these two common painting techniques:

 

Classic works tend to be linear -- that is, the shapes are bounded by lines, sort of like cartoon characters. Botticelli's Birth of Venus is a perfect example. You can also refer to every Peanuts comic strip Charles Schulz ever drew (regardless of what anybody says, it is art).

 

Romantic works tend to be painterly--the boundaries between shapes are blurred somehow, usually with brush strokes. You can clearly see the brush strokes; the artist isn't even trying to hide them. Some call it lazy, we call it painterly. Frans Hals barroom works fall into this category.