Whether you are a busy artist looking to brush up on your knowledge of art-related words or an art student learning the essentials of painting, sculpting, drawing, and printmaking – having an A to Z list of helpful resources is invaluable for understanding what these disciplines involve.
That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive glossary that explains in simple terms the most essential terms used when talking about artwork; from the basics such as acrylic paint and calligraphy ink all the way through to more technical terminology like foreshortening and pastel chalk. With a better grasp of how visual arts professionals describe their creations, discussing them with colleagues will become less daunting. Read on for our A To Z Art Words List!
Art Vocabulary Words
Here is the List of Some Most Common Art Vocabulary Words:
- Realism
- Gallery
- Acrylic Painting
- Quilting
- Turpentine
- Endurance
- Ultimate
- Falter
- Shallowness
- Fuzz
- Illumination
- Medium
- Lighting
- Graphic
- Trecento
- Erase
- Imagery
- Draw
- Ink
- Momentum
- Airbrush
- Ruler
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Art Words Staring With A to Z
Art Words That Start With A
- artisan
- actor
- academy
- artspeak
- artistry
- actress
- antiques
- artmaker
- assemble
- antiart
- ascii art
- artists
- art show
- archive
- animation
- artless
- artmobile
- arthur
- acrylic painting
- assets
- art museum
- avant-garde
- artistdom
- antique
- aesthete
- artifacts
- animations
- artworks
- artgoing
- archival
- album
- arp
- artsy craftsy
- art gallery
- auction
- ash
- aesthetic
- antisagging
- artistically
- art union
- artly
- artistic
- artistic expression
- avant garde
- at art show
- aural
- award-winning
- audio visual
- art and craft
- artist
- architecture
- acrylic resin
- artfuck
- attempt
- acting
- abstractionist
- author
- aquatint
- arty
- albums
- arts
- architectural
- art deco
- artsploitation
- artsy
- acrylic paint
- art
- aesthetics
- alt
- audubon
- abstract paintings
- array
- amate
- art galleries
- airbrush
- artfag
- art supply
- applied arts
- artlike
- at gallery open
- award
- acrylic
- artwork
- artfest
- acclaimed
Art Words That Start With B
- black art
- bridge
- be artist
- booklet
- brush
- bookplate
- biographical
- body paint
- buy paint
- brushwork
- biennale
- baroque
- biography
- business
- books
- best
- balance
- become artist
Art Words That Start With C
- cartooning
- credited
- collaborator
- creative
- conecept design
- copied
- canvases
- camaieu
- crafting
- chalk
- classic
- choreographer
- catalogue
- color
- catalogues
- collections
- collection
- compilation
- collaborated
- curator
- curatorial
- composers
- commanding
- cyberart
- calligraphy
- crafts
- cds
- contemporary art
- comic
- concept
- ceramics
- cover
- copy
- create
- cosplays
- combat
- classicist
- card
- curve
- compact
- clips
- curators
- canon
- collage
- catalog
- character
- chart
- collaboration
- culture
- coloring
- creative person
- craft
- carpet page
- comics
- content
- canvas
- constructivist
- convention
- convex
- creative work
- characters
- collectibles
- creator
- creativity
- collages
- create art
- cinematographer
- contemporary
- composer
- carver
- cosplay
- charcoal
- cultural
- creations
- coat wall
Art Words That Start With D
- delineative
- decorative art
- diptych
- draw
- displayed
- dance
- diversity
- design
- duchamp
- demitint
- direction
- depicting
- diy
- drawing
- designs
- discourse
- drypoint
- depict
- displays
- dev
- distemper
- dancing
- designer
- depaint
- draftsman
- dada
- depiction
- dancer
- dauber
- displaying
- decoupage
- decorate room
- decor
- decorative
- decorator
- duo
- documentary
- depicts
- drawings
- drawer
- display
- diorama
Art Words That Start With E
- endurance
- electropainting
- expressive
- exhibits
- encaustic
- engravings
- editing
- electropainted
- exhibitions
- exhibit
- edit
- entertainment
- exhibition
- era
- entertainer
- etchings
- environmental design
- easel
- etcher
- etching
- expressionism
- example
- expression
- erase
- engraved
- expressionist
- express creativity
- enlightenment
- effort
Art Words That Start With F
- featured
- fard
- filmmaker
- finger paint
- feature
- flag
- fuzz
- folk
- fine art
- filmmakers
- frame
- famous
- films
- fics
- fresco
- figure
- featuring
- falter
- fan
- framed
- film
- fiction
- fanart
- features
- fluid
- figurine
- fic
- fashion
- flavor
Art Words That Start With G
- get some paint
- graphics
- glyptography
- guides
- gesso
- geometric
- Gallery
- graphic art
- graphic
- gouache
- galleries
- gameplay
- genre
- glaze
- graffiti
- gallery open
- glassblower
- game
- graphical user interface
- games
- graphic design
- glasswork
Art Words That Start With H
- housepainting
- hobby
- handiwork
- hatching
- hyperrealism
- humanities
- high art
- handmade
- history
- homiletics
- home improvement
- hirschfeld
- have brush
Art Words That Start With I
- iconic
- illumination
- indie
- impaint
- installation art
- iconography
- illustrated
- intermedia
- inf
- illustrate
- illustration
- image
- inspired
- illustrator
- imagery
- infusion
- indiana
- ink
- illustrative
- inspiration
- innovation
- icon
- icons
- impasto
- impressionism
- illustrations
- images
- illustrating
Art Words That Start With J
- jazz
- japonism
- johns
- jewelry
- juried
- jean arp
- jasper johns
- judgment
Art Words That Start With K
- key
- kitsch
- kiln
Art Words That Start With L
- lino cut
- linocut
- lear
- learn to paint
- luster
- lighting
- line
- longueur
- limn
- letter sign
- legendary
- literary
- liner brush
- lore
- low-relief
- latex
- lensman
- logo
- liberal art
- life class
- literature
Art Words That Start With M
- marcel duchamp
- magnum opus
- media
- mosaic
- meme
- master
- modernist
- medium
- models
- marouflage
- monochromy
- modernism
- momentum
- movies
- meager
- mural
- motif
- mosaics
- museums
- musical
- museum
- model
- muse
- masa
- merch
- museum wing
- metalwork
- musicians
- maxfield parrish
- memes
- maestro
- musician
- mask tape
- make paint
- miniaturist
- masterpiece
- minstrelsy
- material
- manuscript
- movie
- make picture
- minimalist
- masterpieces
- masterworks
- modern art
- miniate
- montage
- murals
- music
Art Words That Start With N
- nudes
- novel
- notable
- notation
- name
- neutral
- nonrepresentational
- non textual matter
- novelist
- new look
Art Words That Start With O
- oil paint
- originals
- original
- on wall
- old master
- overlap
- oeuvre
- oil color
- outpaint
- office
- ornamentalist
- other
Art Words That Start With P
- pieces
- paintings
- photography
- paintbrush
- pcr
- portraiture
- portray
- painted
- photograph
- paint brush
- posters
- photo
- pictorialism
- pop
- products
- puppetry
- portfolio
- performing arts
- paint house
- pictorial
- photogravure
- painter
- production
- porcelain
- porn
- pose
- portraits
- patronage
- paleoart
- pseudophotograph
- pictures
- portrait
- paintings drawings
- presents
- plastic art
- photo realism
- paint out
- photographs
- painty
- prints
- panorama
- performer
- palette
- performed
- placement
- picturer
- pencil
- painture
- philosophy
- printing
- performance art
- performers
- producer
- place
- printmaker
- physical body
- photomontage
- paint picture
- photographic
- product
- papier
- prominently
- picasso
- pixel art
- portraitist
- poster
- picturesque
- paint on canvas
- picture
- painters
- paintmaking
- painterly
- poet
- piece
- playwright
- pyrographer
- personal
- paint
- printed
- painting
- photographer
- photos
- paintathon
- paint wall
- prog
- pre-raphaelite
- pioneer
- pictorial convention
- pianist
- paintless
- poetry
- pop art
- paintinglike
- project
- performance
- pioneering
- printmaking
- pastiche
- pottery
- publication
- paintable
Art Words That Start With Q
- quality
- quilting
Art Words That Start With R
- rococo
- restraint
- realism
- remixes
- reproduced
- retrospective
- romanticist
- renowned
- renderings
- repetition
- recording
- repaint
- ruler
- recoat
- remastered
- romantic
- religious icon
- reproductions
Art Words That Start With S
- stippler
- spray paint
- spell
- scratchboard
- staffage
- semigloss
- sci
- school
- shapes
- song
- scheme
- singers
- surrealism
- singer
- sculpting
- sculpture
- singing
- sculptors
- screenplay
- studio
- singer-songwriter
- sport
- songwriter
- songs
- shallowness
- subtle
- sculpturer
- sculptures
- stone
- stipple
- soundtrack
- shade
- stories
- style
- stylist
- showcases
- surrealist
- sketch
- sculptor
- seascape
- sculptural
- symbolist
- sculpt
- screenwriter
- science
- sketches
- still life
- skill
- sgraffito
- sacred
- statues
- sound
- story
- starred
- speech
- street art
Art Words That Start With T
- theatre
- trecento
- tint
- tech
- traditional art
- tapestries
- turpentine
- theatrical
- tanka
- text
- track
- technicolor
- textile arts
- topcoat
- topiary
- tempera
- theme
- titled
- the
- tables
- triptych
- taxidermy
- trompe l’oeil
- talaria
- telescopy
- tone
- tiffany
Art Words That Start With U
- underpainting
- unpaint
- undertone
- use brush
- ultimate
- unusual
Art Words That Start With V
- videography
- visual arts
- varnish
- visual art
- ventriloquism
- visual
- vision
- visuals
- video
- visual artist
- videos
- vitrine
- vocalist
- variety
Art Words That Start With W
- watercolors
- wall cover
- watercolour
- wood carving
- whirl
- well-known
- weapon
- watercolor painting
- water base paint
- work
- work of art
- works
- watercolor paintings
- written
- watercolor
- writing
- wheel
- writer
- warhol
- world
- watercolorist
Art Words That Start With Y, Z
- young
- ziggurat
- zest
Painting Vocabulary:
- Brushstroke
- Palette
- Composition
- Impressionism
- Realism
- Expressionism
- Landscape
- Portrait
- Still life
- En plein air
- Opaque
- Transparent
- Glaze
- Underpainting
- Varnish
- Pigment
- Canvas
- Easel
- Impasto
- Gesso
- Acrylic
- Oil paint
- Watercolor
- Mixed media
- Genre painting
- Fresco
- Trompe-l’oeil
- Alla prima
- Tenebrism
- Chiaroscuro
Visual Art Vocabulary:
- Aesthetics
- Proportion
- Balance
- Harmony
- Contrast
- Form
- Line
- Shape
- Texture
- Color
- Space
- Perspective
- Symmetry
- Unity
- Emphasis
- Movement
- Repetition
- Rhythm
- Pattern
- Abstraction
- Conceptual art
- Installation
- Performance art
- Video art
- Public art
- Site-specific art
- Kinetic art
- Op art
- Pop art
- Minimalism
Digital Art Vocabulary:
- Pixel
- Resolution
- Digital painting
- 3D modeling
- Vector art
- Image manipulation
- Digital collage
- Digital print
- Fractal art
- Algorithmic art
- Generative art
- Motion graphics
- Virtual reality
- Augmented reality
- Interactive art
- Game art
- Web design
- User experience
- Interface design
- Mobile app design
- Digital photography
- Digital animation
- Video art
- Sound art
- Net art
- Electronic literature
- Cyberculture
- Digital storytelling
- Digital curation
- Artificial intelligence art
Abstract Art Vocabulary:
- Non-representational
- Minimalism
- Color field painting
- Hard-edge painting
- Gestural abstraction
- Tachisme
- Lyrical abstraction
- Abstract expressionism
- Post-painterly abstraction
- Op art
- Kinetic art
- Geometric abstraction
- Constructivism
- Suprematism
- De Stijl
- Bauhaus
- Futurism
- Cubism
- Dadaism
- Surrealism
- Abstract illusionism
- Chromatic abstraction
- Systemic painting
- Conceptual abstraction
- Neo-expressionism
- Postmodernism
- Digital abstract art
- Abstraction in nature
- Abstraction in music
- Abstraction in science
Modern Art Vocabulary:
- Avant-garde
- Modernism
- Cubism
- Futurism
- Dadaism
- Surrealism
- Abstract expressionism
- Color field painting
- Pop art
- Op art
- Minimalism
- Conceptual art
- Land art
- Performance art
- Body art
- Feminist art
- Postmodernism
- Neo-expressionism
- Installation art
- Digital art
- New media art
- Kin
- Street art
- Graffiti art
- Video art
- Environmental art
- Outsider art
- Kinetic art
- Photorealism
- Appropriation art
Art History Vocabulary:
- Renaissance
- Baroque
- Rococo
- Neoclassicism
- Romanticism
- Realism
- Impressionism
- Post-Impressionism
- Art Nouveau
- Expressionism
- Surrealism
- Abstract Expressionism
- Minimalism
- Conceptual art
- Performance art
- Pop art
- Land art
- Neo-expressionism
- Postmodernism
- Digital art
- Graffiti art
- Street art
- Outsider art
- Feminist art
- Installation art
- Contemporary art
- Art deco
- Arts and crafts movement
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
- Bauhaus
Basic Art Vocabulary:
- Artwork
- Medium
- Palette
- Canvas
- Easel
- Perspective
- Composition
- Contrast
- Tone
- Texture
- Form
- Shape
- Line
- Color
- Space
- Balance
- Unity
- Emphasis
- Movement
- Pattern
- Rhythm
- Proportion
- Symmetry
- Aesthetics
- Critique
- Exhibition
- Artistic process
- Creativity
- Inspiration
- Artistic expression
Watercolor Vocabulary:
- Wash
- Wet-on-wet
- Drybrush
- Blending
- Layering
- Masking
- Bleeding
- Salt effect
- Lifting
- Graded wash
- Flat wash
- Glazing
- Sgraffito
- Resist
- Granulation
- Stippling
- Impressionistic
- Transparent
- Opaque
- Gum arabic
- Burnishing
- Dry paper technique
- Wet paper technique
- Splattering
- Scumbling
- Calligraphy
- Tonal values
- Negative painting
Art Gallery Vocabulary:
- Exhibition
- Curator
- Vernissage
- Installation
- Gallery wall
- Art collector
- Art auction
- Art fair
- Art dealer
- Artist residency
- Art appraisal
- Art authentication
- Art inventory
- Art insurance
- Art investment
- Limited edition
- Fine art print
- Sculpture Garden
- Artist talk
- Art book
- Art magazine
- Art newsletter
- Art catalog
- Gallery assistant
- Art sales
- Art loan
- Commission
- Art transport
- Art Conservation
- Framing
Artist Words List:
- Creativity
- Inspiration
- Technique
- Talent
- Imagination
- Vision
- Innovation
- Experimentation
- Style
- Medium
- Expression
- Artistic process
- Concept
- Originality
- Experimentation
- Dedication
- Practice
- Portfolio
- Artistic community
- Career
- Commission
- Collaboration
- Entrepreneurship
- Branding
- Marketing
- Networking
- Self-promotion
- Grants
- Artist Statement
- Artistic legacy
Oil Painting Vocabulary:
- Impasto
- Glaze
- Alla prima
- Chiaroscuro
- Tenebrism
- Underpainting
- Varnish
- Solvent
- Linseed oil
- Turpentine
- Mineral spirits
- Drying time
- Oil painting mediums
- Retouching varnish
- Fat over lean
- Thin over thick
- Impressionistic
- Realistic
- Traditional
- Modern
- Contemporary
- Flemish technique
- Venetian technique
- Grisaille
- Scumbling
- Glazing medium
- Damar varnish
- Gesso
- Pigment
- Color mixing
Teaching Art Vocabulary:
- Pedagogy
- Lesson plan
- Learning objectives
- Assessment
- Rubric
- Critique
- Feedback
- Studio art
- Visual literacy
- Art history
- Art appreciation
- Art theory
- Techniques
- Mediums
- Artistic process
- Creative problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Art criticism
- Art education research
- Arts integration
- Multicultural art education
- Inclusive art education
- Differentiated instruction
- Special education in art
- Teaching art online
- Teaching art to children
- Teaching art to adults
- Art education advocacy
- Professional development
- Curriculum development
