The Seven

Forms of Art
 There is a general consensus
that there are seven main kinds
of art, most of which have been
around for centuries if not
thousands of years. These
different types of art are
painting, sculpture, architecture,
literature, music, cinema, and
theater.
Painting is the application of
paint, usually on a two-
dimensional surface.
Painting is a form of
expressing your artistic
vision using paint as the
primary medium.
Paints are generally oil,
acrylic, or watercolor, but
you can also paint with
pigments, dyes, and inks or
incorporate other materials.
The paint application comes
in many forms; it may be
brushed on, smeared,
dabbed, or splashed.
Painters develop their
work by applying different
colored paints onto a solid
surface, usually a canvas,
to produce a work of art.
In ancient times, people relied on natural materials
such as plant matter, bones, and soft stones and
rocks to make their pigments but today artificial
coloring is mostly used.
• In modern times, various other additives are
included in the ingredients, which make the paint
more user-friendly and convenient.
Caravaggio's The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
Poker Game (1894) by Cassius Coolidge
A sculpture creates three-
dimensional visual images,
traditionally using materials
such as clay, stone, ceramics,
metals, or wood.
Often too big for private
homes, sculptures were
commissioned by kings or
religious and political leaders
and displayed in public
places – usually as
expressions of wealth,
power, religion, or politics.
 Many classical cities of the
ancient world, such as Athens,
Jerusalem, Istanbul, and Rome,
are home to impressive public
sculpture collections.

Iris, from the west pediment of the Parthenon, c. 438–432 B.C.E., marble,
135 cm high, Athens, Greece
Iris, from the west pediment of the Parthenon, c. 438–432 B.C.E., marble,
135 cm high, Athens, Greece
Famous classical
sculptors such as
Michelangelo and
Myron favored carving
and casting techniques
using marble and
bronze.
Figurines and larger examples of sculptures
from the ancient world have been found in
various locations around the world. They
often had a spiritual or religious connection.
Modern sculptors have almost any object at their
disposal to create a sculpture, including metals,
plastics, glass, or found objects.
• Contemporary sculptors also have a wider
variety of techniques at their disposal, including
welding, carving, assembling, or modeling.
"Thought” by Jenny Cortes
Les Voyageurs. Bruno Catalano
Architecture has always had an obvious and
strong connection with art.
• Architecture is not only a practice of
constructing buildings or other structures.
It also has a powerful cultural, aesthetic, and
even ideological purpose.
Architecture serves a functional purpose but is an
early and consistent representation of man’s desire
to build meaningful structures throughout history.
• Architecture is both a utility necessity and an
art form, and as sculpture, it is publicly available.
Colosseum. Rome, Italy
La Sagrada Familia. Barcelona, Spain
Taj Mahal. Agra, India
Literature is an art form that shares
stories. It is an art form of language and
can be read or spoken.
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines
literature as “writings whose value lies
in the beauty of form or emotional
effect.”
Language is a powerful and symbolic way of
communicating, and writing is no exception.
• The earliest texts date back thousands
of years to Mesopotamia, although it is
thought that writing developed
independently on different continents.
Literature crosses all written
languages and encompasses a wide
range of written works, including
poetry, essays, plays, biographies,
fiction, non-fiction, satires, and more.
Writers create art with literature
through the organization of words
that give pleasure, and while reading
is enjoyable, those words are often
critiques of society.
It is also closely related to
theater, poetry, film, music, and
the spoken word.
Music is created when there is
an organization of sounds, as
vibrations, that are put together
to form an audible composition.
• Music can use the human
voice, instruments, or both.
Elements of a musical
composition include
harmony, timbre,
melody, and rhythm.
Music is an art form that is culturally universal
and present in all human societies across the
world.
• Music also has strong associations with
religion and is a standard part of many
religious practices.
Music is defined by genre, with too many genres and
styles to name.
• Popular western music genres include everything
from classical to gospel, rock, pop, hip-hop, rap,
electronic, blues, country, reggae, indie, trap,
reggaeton, folk, metal, punk, soul, funk, techno,
and many more.
While, originally, music was confined
to their communities, thanks to
modern developments in
technology, today music from
different places in the world is
becoming more and more accessible
to people in faraway places.
The performing arts in general, with the exception of
music.
• Although very different in many ways compared
to other visual arts, theatre or the performing
arts are intensely expressive, marked by emotions
and feelings, on stage and in the theatre hall.
The theater has been
a part of culture
since the Ancient
Greeks in the 6th
century BC.
Theater often incorporates the other seven
different forms of art in its total package, with
music, set design, and literature often used as
elements of theater production.
• Other forms of decorative arts such as costume
making also contribute to the overall experience.
In theatre or dance, there is more than just one artist, as
many different actors influence the artwork. The
choreographer or writer is often seen as the leading artist
of the work in question. However, the stage designers,
performers, light technicians, the composer of the music,
the costume designers, and many more contribute to the
final product and have a significant influence.
Movies are the projection of a three-
dimensional world onto a two-
dimensional screen, an art form that
engages our audible and visual senses.
• Like literature, movies tell a story,
but they do so with both spoken
word, visual art, and more.
The movie industry employs artisans in
special effects, animation, makeup,
costumes, writing, set design, scoring,
acting, directing, and more.
• There is a wide range of creative
vision and skill that goes into
every cinematic production.
Early films were not as we know them
today, and nor was the atmosphere in
which they were broadcast.
• Visuals lasted only a few minutes
and some of the content included
comedy skits, news, and pictures
of lands beyond the borders.
Roundhay Garden Scene by Louis Le Prince. 1888
The progression of cinema into the
immensely popular and accessible
format we know today occurred
within the space of a little over 100
years.
The major events that took place that made
cinema more attractive to the public:
• 1891: Prototype of kinetoscope by the
Edison Company
• 1893: The kinetoscope made its first public
appearance
• 1895: Public audience by the Lumière
brothers using their Cinématographe
• 1909: Color was introduced
New artistic horizons are being conquered in the
realms of fashion, digital art, and graphic design,
and photography as three examples of recent
trends in art that do not conform to the types
of art discussed in this article but should
nevertheless be taken into account.
https://artincontext.org/types-of-art/
https://www.eden-gallery.com/news/7-
different-forms-of-art