Peter:'Now we are going to talk about the different types of paintings which there are.'
Juan:'That sounds very useful to know.'
Peter:'There are two main types of painting. There are paintings which contain scenes or objects which look exactly like or very similar to those in the real world, and there are those which don't.'
Juan:'Paintings which don't clearly reflect objects in real life and normally use lines, shapes and colours instead are called abstract paintings, aren't they?'
Peter:'Exactly. A lot of the work of the artists Jackson Pollock and Mondrian, are abstract. A lot of abstract art is visceral, it has been painted to affect your emotions directly.'
Juan:'I understand what you mean, it's like music. It makes you feel sad or angry or happy and it is difficult to understand why it does.'
Peter:'Exactly. And paintings which reflect scenes and objects from real life, even though they may not be exact representations of them, are called figurative.'
Juan:'Paintings from artists like Monet, Turner, Da Vinci for example, are figurative.'
Peter:'Yes, they are. And with figurative paintings they are grouped together into different types.'
Juan:'Are they divided on the style they are painted in or what the topic of the painting is?'
Peter:'Both. But we'll talk about the different types depending on the subject matter first.'
Juan:'What does subject matter mean?'
Peter:'Basically, the subject matter in figurative painting are the things or the scene which the artist has painted. The subject matter could be a man crying after losing a battle, a cold winter's day in the mountains or people buying food in a market.'
Juan:'Ok. So tell me what the different topics are.'
Peter:'The first type is called a portrait painting. It is where the focus of the painting is on a person or a group of people, like a family or a couple. Whereas if a painting captures a wide scene from either nature (e.g mountains and valleys) or from a city or town, it is called a landscape painting.'
Juan:'And can landscape paintings include people in them?'
Peter:'Yes, they can. But the people painted in it are incidental, it is the landscape and the view which is the subject matter and focus of the painting.'
Juan:'And what about a painting where the subject matter is a scene from life, like a family playing in a park or people shopping in a market. Is that a portrait or a landscape?'
Peter:'It is neither. That type of painting which captures a scene or an event out of life with people in it, is generally called a genre painting.'
Juan:'And what about paintings where the focus is on some fruit or flowers on a table?'
Peter:'If the focus of a painting is on some type of inanimate object like flowers, fruit, books etc..., the type of painting is called a still life.'
Juan:'Knowing all that will help me to describe what I can see when I am at the art gallery.'
Peter:'And the last thing to know is the different styles which painters use.'
Juan:'That would be very useful. Because the same subject matter can be painted very differently by different painters.'
Peter:'Normally, you can group together the styles which artists use into different art movements, each with its own specific name. So painters who use a similar technique/way to paint objects or light, or are expressing a similar philosophy of art, can be grouped together into a particular art movement.'
Juan:'So artists like Manet and Monet are part of the art movement called "impressionism". Whereas some of the paintings of Picasso and Braque are part of the art movement called "cubism".'
Peter:'Exactly. Well, you should have something to say about the paintings when you are on the date at the art gallery now.'
Juan:'Yes, I will have. Thanks for your help.'
Peter:'My pleasure.'
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