Analyzing Artwork – 5 Basic Steps

1. Analyzing Artwork – 5 Basic Steps (it’ll all be ok)

2. Step 1 • Figure out what the artwork is. Some artwork is pretty straightforward. A painting of a pond may actually look like a painting of a pond. Other art pieces are a tad more challenging. Use your own imagination to gauge what you see in the piece. For instance, a Picasso could look like a fish-flavored ice cream sundae.



4. Pablo Picasso – Grande nature morte- au guéridon

5. Step 2 • Take heed of the subject matter. This can say a lot about what is important to the artist or what’s the rage at the time the artwork was created. A modern piece of a downtrodden street may point to the blight of urban poverty. Some historical pieces will give you faces of royalty or scenes depicting revolutions, wars or a farmer plowing a field.

7. Step 3 • Look at shapes, lines, color and overall effect the artwork has to determine its mood. A painting with soft hues and rounded lines may make you feel warm and cozy, giving the piece a gentle and soothing ambiance. Jagged lines, sharp teeth and harsh colors produce a jolting effect.



8. Water Lillies - Monet

9. Piet Mondrian - Composition with Red, Yellow, Blue and Black

10. Step 4 • Examine fine details. Here you may be surprised to find a dog hidden behind a table leg, a coiled tongue inside someone’s mouth or a ribbon sculpted into an angel’s head. In the case of the Picasso, perhaps we did not note the orange triangle down the side of the sundae dish.

13. Johannes Van Eyk Was Here

18. Step 5 • Define the statement you think the artist is making. This is where the real fun comes in. The soothing, rounded, cozy piece, which just happens to depict a mother and child, could be telling you about the miracle of birth and the love of family. The Picasso piece, with the fish-flavored sundae, could be saying Picasso was hungry when he painted this or it is an outrage against horrible flavors of ice cream. Picasso's orange triangle down the side of the ice cream dish could indicate the fish-flavored ice cream is being beaten down by the sun and melting. To take it further, it could be a statement about the ephemeral nature of ice cream and life.

20. Tips…many tips…art tips • Have fun. Make your analysis as serious or as wacky as you like. Regardless of what the art books say, there is no right or wrong when it comes to analyzing art. Theirs is just one interpretation, of which there are an infinite number. • Art books can, however, be very helpful in deepening your appreciation and interpretation of art.

21. Tips…many tips…art tips. • Supplement your analysis by researching some art history. This will only add to the experience and make you frightfully knowledgeable. You can wow all your friends at the next gallery opening with your comment on pointillism. • Don't pretend to like a piece of art just because everyone else does. Let your heart decide if the artwork speaks to you.

22. The last tips. No more tips. • Don’t feel bad if you don’t like something everyone else does or if you find great joy in another piece everyone thinks is crummy. Artwork, and its appreciation, is highly personal. • No matter how much a piece of art is worth or how famous an artist is that created it, sometimes things will still look like a giant blob.