Republic of the Philippines

DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE

OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
(Masbate State College)
www.debesmscat.edu.ph
Mandaon, Masbate
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

GE 6 – ARTS APPRECIATION
MODULE 3

APPRECIATING THE ART OF PAINTING

I. Module Overview

This module serves as a guide in appreciating painting as a work of art.

II. Desired Learning Outcomes

At the end of this topic, the students should be able to:
 Determine the importance of paintings in humanities
 Identify some works of artists that show the broad influence of humanities in the culture of a society
 Discuss the meaning of paintings

III. Take-Off/Motivation
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary” - Pablo Picasso

IV. Content Focus

Appreciating the Art of Painting

Painting is an art by applying colors to a surface to present an object imagined or real. Basic materials
of painting are paint, canvass, wood, paper and brush.
Mediums of Painting
a. Water Color. As the word suggests, it is a combination of coloring materials and water. It is the
most commonly used medium of painting particularly among children because it is easy to use and
available even in the small sari-sari store.

https://watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com

b. Oil. One characteristic of oil

painting is its glossy
product. It slowly dries, to
give painters a chance to
do some corrections of
their art. Because it dries
fast, strokes of oil can
easily blend with each

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Evening, Trolley on the Square and Midnight in Paris — Palette Knife Oil Painting on Canvas by Leonid Afremov
 other, providing softer merging of one tone into the other creating great luminosity and color
transparency.

c. Tempera. It is one of the

old mediums that
persisted through the
ages. It was well used
before oil was adopted. Its
mineral coloring is a
mixture of egg yolks and
ore. This medium is
usually applied to a
wooden panel that is
made very plain with
plaster called gesso.

Here is an illustration of how a

tempera painting is done.

d. Pastel. This is a stick paste made of powdered pigment. It looks like a crayon and it is applied like a
crayon. Although it is very easy to use, it did not attract the attention of artists because its finished
product is difficult to preserve.

e.

Artfactory.com

Fresco. It is taken from the word fresh,

the art of painting on fresh plaster.
This ia medium of paint where color
pigments are mixed with water and
then applied directly onto fresh plaster
ground or surface. The surface is
typically a wall or a ceiling.

The Creation of Adam (1512) - Michaelangelo

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f. Acrylic. It is one of the most versatile mediums of painting. It is a painting which adhesive
element is acrylic resin. Contemporary artists use it because of its quick drying characteristic. It is
water-soluble when wet but because of its plastic polymer component, it dries into a flexible, water-
resistant, and durable surface where subsequent layers of paint can be added without disturbing the
underlying layers.

Art Elements of a Painting

Like all the other kinds of arts, painting has also elements of its own which are discussed briefly
below. Knowing them is a prerequisite in appreciating and creating this particular form of art.
a. Distance. There are three distances to look for in a painting. The part of the painting closest to the
viewer is called the foreground.
The Joy of Dance Painting By Sowjanya Tirunagari
The middle ground is the part Mad Masters Beautiful Dancing (amazon.comGirl

between the foreground and the part which is farthest is called

the background.

b. Color. Artists use colors to convey feelings and moods within their
painting. They can create a cheerful mood by placing bright colors next to
each other. They can create a calm or gentle mood by placing soft
colors alongside each other. Basically, colors can be divided into warm
(reds, oranges, yellow) and cool (blues, greens, and violets) colors.
The artist also uses black to tone down colors (shades) and white to
lighten them up (tints).

c. Light. Painters spend a lot of time studying the way light falls. They often experiment with light in
their paintings stimulating natural light or using hidden spotlights to let you focus your attention on
what they want you to notice in the painting. Use of light and darkness also conveys particular
moods in a painting.

d. Line. Artists use various types of lines (diagonal, curved, vertical, and horizontal) to express ideas
and feelings in their paintings.

e. Shapes. An artist uses shapes to express ideas. They may be circles, triangles, rectangles, ovals,
and squares. When arranged close together, they help add energy to a painting. When placed far
apart, they look more serene.

f. Composition. Artists seriously plan how they will arrange elements like color, line, and shapes in
their paintings. This is called composition. A composition is often likened to an invisible skeleton
that holds the painting together.

g. Perspective. Through perspective, artists convey 3-dimension space. Perspective makes a flat
picture look 3-dimensional. How an artist layers the three distances of foreground, middle ground,
and background is one way he/she creates perspective. To create a deeper space, an artist may
make parallel lines come together. To give the effect of a distance, the artist may make the objects
in the background smaller in size, lighter in color or less detailed.

h. Symbols. Artists often include symbolic objects in their paintings. A symbol can be defined as
something which has a special meaning or a special message. Artists use them to express such
ideas as life, death, hope and faith in God.
Moods of Presenting the Art of Painting
Styles in Paintings

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 a. Abstract. It presents the subject not as it appears in reality. There are various
Distortion Elongation Cubism Mangling

types of abstracts:

i. Distortion. This is a kind of abstract which natural form or condition is twisted or distorted.
There is a misshapen look of the picture presented.

ii. Elongation. The character or the object being painted is elongated or extended. This is to
emphasize a certain purpose of the painter.

iii. Cubism. Abstractionism that stressed through the use of some geometrical shapes such as
cylindrical, triangular, spherical and other forms at the expense of other pictural elements.

iv. Mangling. The object is presented as cut lacerated, multilated or hacked. This is not well-
used kind of abstractionism.
Artists
b. Expressionism. This was a European method that flourished in Distortion: Kathleen A. Roberson
the first decade of the twentieth century. In this method, artists Elongation: Amedeo Modigliani
Cubism: Picasso
have the freedom to consider their personal style in presenting Mangling: Han Xiao
their subject or expressing their thought or feelings.

i. Symbolism. Symbolism Fauvism

It is a thing
or a single
object that
stands for
another
thing. A flying
dove for
instance
stands for
freedom.

Death and the Masks (1897) - James Ensor

ii. Fauvism.
It is a kind of style or movement in painting that is
characterized by pigments. Fauvism is usually used to
express a feeling of joy, comfort or pleasure through Woman with a Hat (1905) - Henri Matisse
extremely bright colors. A fauvist is too much
concerned on the brightness of the colors.

Dadaism Surrealism Futurism

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c. Dadaism. The word “dada” is a French word meaning horse. It is a protest movement against the
traditional ancient arts and evils in society.

d. Surrealism. A style in presenting art by fantastic or incongruous imagery produced by unnatural

combinations. Surreal means intense irrationality or beyond natural. It emphasizes activities of the
subconscious mind. In other words, surrealism pictures out image in a form of a dream.

e. Futurism. Movies such as Star Wars, Time Machine, Terminator, etc. picture something in the
future. The same thing is portrayed in paintings. It exalts success in technology. Subject includes
supersonic trains, jet, modern houses and anything that relates to the importance of modernization.
Some Artists and their Works
Leonardo da Vinci
He is a Florentine painter known very much by his greatest masterpiece, the Monalisa. His
paintings, particularly the Monalisa, emphasizes calmness. Everyone must have observed the smile of
Monalisa and the way she puts her hands together very calmly. He was born in 1452 and died in 1519
in Florence. Some of his works are: The Last Supper, The Virgin and the Child with St. Anne, Monalisa,
Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and the battle of the Anghiari.

Monalisa The Last Supper

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Michaelangelo Bounarrotti
A stone carver and a painter is best remembered for his classical work – the Sistene Chapel.
Two of his other works are Bachu and Pieta. He was born in 1475 and died in 1564.
Crucifixion of St. Peter Sistine Chapel Ceiling

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Vincent Van Gogh
He was a Dutch painter, so forlorn and The Starry Night
lonely in his life. He was suffering from severe
depression which led to him cutting off the lower
part of his left ear with a razor while staying in
Arles, France. His painting, Self-Portrait with
Bandaged Ear, served as a documentation of the
said event in his life.
Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear

He was born on March 30, 1853 and died by suicide on July 27, 1890 at the age of 37. His works
include, Huts and Two Women, Working on the Other Hand, Heads of a Peasant, The Weaver, The
Garden of the Parish Church, The Potato Eaters, The Backside of the Old House, A View of La Crau
and the Red Orchard.

Pablo Picasso
A Spanish painter Weeping Woman Family of Saltimabargues
who was a constant
experimenter in all
mediums of painting, but
he lived longer in Cubism
style, He was a gifted
youth, but he was always
impoverished in his life. His
works depict misery; they
are poignant and
melancholy. Each is filled
with angular and stoop
figure, the right
representation of poverty. His works are; La Vie, Old Guitarist, Boy Leading a Horse, Family of
Saltimabargues, Gestrude Stein, Female Nude, Woman with Guitar, Minotasurömachy and Leuernica.

Fernando Amorsolo
Mango pickers A Filipino painter best remembered for his
rural landscapes in the use of light. His first taste
in the art of painting was first discovered and
nurtured by his uncle Fabian dela Rosa, his
mother's first degree cousin. Latter he enrolled at
Liceo de
The Palay Maidens
Manila and at
the
University of
the

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Philippines. He studied Fine Arts and graduated in 1914. After working as a commercial artist and an
occasionally as an instructor, he went to Madrid and for seven months he made sketches at the Museo
and in the streets of the city. He went to New York where he discovered Impressionism and Cubism
which became very influential in his works. He was born on May 30, 1892 at Pacu district of Manila.
Juan Luna
His posture in pictures in recognizable by his Mexican styled moustache. He was the brother of
Antonio Luna, a Filipino general who was murdered by his compatriots. Juan Luna studied in Madrid
and was brought by his private tutor to Rome to study the masters. His famous work is the Spoliarium
that won top prize at the Madrid exposition of 1884. He died of heart attack on December 7, 1899 in
Hong Kong upon knowing about the assassination of his brother by the fellow Filipino insurgents.
Spoliarium The Death of Cleopatra

Vicente Manansala
Harana

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 He was also a Filipino painter from
Macabebe, Pampanga born on January 22, 1910
and died in Makati in 1981. He studied at the
Sungka

University of the Philippines and was a

recipient of a number of scholarship grants,
the privilege that allowed him to travel
outside the country. He was awarded as a
professional artist in painting. In 1981, he
was posthumously proclaimed National
Artist.

VIII. References

 Art Appreciation: Introduction to the Humanities by Claudio V. Tabotabo et. al., c2010

Compiled and Edited by:

JAY KENNETH B. CERNAL

COS Instructor/DEBESMSCAT

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