Words about art

Terms you come across in museums, books and the app – with explanations and pronunciation. Tap the speaker to hear the word in its own language.

Fresk: Painting on wet lime plaster; the pigments are bound as the plaster dries.

Secco: Painting on dry plaster. Less durable than true fresco – as with Leonardo's The Last Supper.

Giornata: A day's work: the section of fresco painted in one day, before the plaster dried.

Tempera: Paint in which the pigments are bound with egg yolk. Dries quickly to a matt surface.

Oljemålning: Pigments bound in linseed oil. Dries slowly and can be built up in transparent layers.

Lasyr: A thin, transparent layer of paint that adds depth and lustre.

Impasto: Thick paint that stands out in relief on the canvas, as in van Gogh and Rembrandt.

Grisaille: Painting in shades of grey, often to imitate sculpture.

Akvarell: Transparent water-based paint on paper; the white of the paper provides the light in the picture.

Gouache: Opaque watercolour with a matt finish.

Pastell: Dry sticks of pure pigment. Produce soft, powdery surfaces.

Enkaustik: Pigment in molten wax. Used in ancient mummy portraits and by Jasper Johns.

Collage: A picture pasted together from paper, photographs and other materials.

Assemblage: A three-dimensional collage of objects.

Readymade: A ready-made everyday object exhibited as art. Duchamp's invention.

Träsnitt: A printmaking technique in which the image is cut into a block of wood and printed.

Kopparstick: A print in which the lines are engraved into a copper plate.

Etsning: A print in which acid bites the lines into a metal plate. Rembrandt and Zorn were masters of it.

Litografi: Printing from stone: the image is drawn on stone with a greasy medium and printed.

Serigrafi: Screen printing through a mesh. Warhol's technique.

Mosaik: A picture made of small pieces of stone or glass, called tesserae.

Chiaroscuro: The interplay of light and dark that gives form and volume.

Sfumato: Soft, smoky transitions without sharp outlines. Leonardo's hallmark.

Tenebrism: Deep darkness with a harsh, directed light, as in Caravaggio.

Kontrapost: A pose in which the weight rests on one leg, so that the body curves. From antiquity.

Centralperspektiv: Lines receding into the picture meet at a vanishing point on the horizon.

Luftperspektiv: Distant things are painted paler and bluer to show distance.

Förkortning: A form that points towards the viewer and is therefore compressed.

Trompe-l’œil: “Deceive the eye”: painting so true to life that you think it is real.

Di sotto in sù: Ceiling painting seen from below, so that the figures seem to float above the viewer.

Valör: The lightness of a colour – how light or dark it is.

Komplementfärg: The colour opposite on the colour wheel, which intensifies the other.

Komposition: How the parts of a picture are arranged.

Gyllene snittet: The proportion of roughly 0.618 : 1, often considered harmonious.

Pentimento: Traces of a change showing through the paint: the artist “repented”.

En plein air: Painting outdoors, in the open air. The Impressionists' way of working.

Alla prima: Wet-on-wet: a painting made in one go without letting the layers dry.

Ikonografi: The study of the subjects and symbols of images.

Attribut: An object that shows who a figure is: Peter's keys, Catherine's wheel.

Vanitas: A still life about the transience of life: skulls, candles and hourglasses.

Memento mori: “Remember that you must die” – a reminder of death in pictorial form.

Stilleben: A painting of objects: flowers, fruit, vessels.

Genremåleri: Pictures of everyday life.

Historiemåleri: Biblical, mythological and historical scenes – the highest genre of the academies.

Allegori: A picture in which people and objects stand for ideas, such as Justice with her scales.

Pietà: Mary with the dead Christ on her lap.

Bebådelsen: The angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear the Son of God.

Tronie: A Dutch study of a face or a type, not a commissioned portrait.

Rückenfigur: A figure seen from behind, through whom we see the landscape. Friedrich's device.

Fête galante: Pictures of elegant couples making merry in parks. Watteau's genre.

Triptyk: A work in three parts, often an altarpiece with wings.

Altartavla: A painting or sculpture behind the altar in a church.

Ikon: A sacred image of the Orthodox Church, painted according to fixed models.

Relief: Sculpture that projects from a background.

Byst: A sculpture of the head and upper body.

Kapitäl: The top, often decorated part of a column.

Strävbåge: An arch outside a Gothic church that takes the thrust of the vaults.

Kupol: A hemispherical roof, as on the Pantheon and St Peter's.

Installation: A work that fills a room and that you walk into.

Performance: Art as an action carried out before an audience.

Avantgarde: “Vanguard”: artists who break new ground.

Akademism: Art following the rules of the academies: smooth surfaces, ideals, historical subjects.

Salongen: The official exhibition in Paris, which decided artists' careers.

Pointillism: Pictures made of small dots of pure colour that mix in the eye. Seurat's method.

Jugend: Art Nouveau: the turn-of-the-century style of sinuous, plant-like lines.

Dada: An anti-art movement from 1916 that protested against war and reason.

Konkretism: Geometric art that does not depict anything but is “concrete” in itself.

Rokoko: The light, playful style of the 18th century, named after the rocaille shell ornament.

Manierism: The artificial style of the late Renaissance, with elongated bodies.

Veduta: A detailed view of a city, such as Canaletto's Venice.