painting

The word “painting” means a picture or artwork made with paint. In plain terms, either a finished work made with paint, or the act of applying paint.

“Painting” is pronounced PAYN-tihng (/ˈpeɪ.nɪŋ/ in IPA).

Here is “painting” used in a sentence: “The gallery bought a painting by a local artist.”

“Painting” is a noun.

“Painting” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Painting” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a picture or artwork made with paint.

A painting is made with paint — applied colour such as oil, acrylic, or watercolour, usually built up in areas of tone and hue. A drawing is made with dry or line-based tools like pencil, pen, charcoal, or crayon, and relies more on line. The medium is the key difference.

Paintings can be grouped by medium — oil, watercolour, acrylic, gouache, or fresco — and by subject or style, such as portrait, landscape, still life, and abstract. Art movements like Impressionism, Realism, and Cubism describe further styles. The same picture might be classed several ways at once, by material and by genre.

Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' is perhaps the best known, alongside Vincent van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' and Edvard Munch's 'The Scream.' Each is a picture made with paint on a surface, and each is celebrated for its style, technique, and lasting influence on art.

A painting is an original, made by hand directly with paint, so only one exists. A print is a reproduction, produced by transferring an image — mechanically or from a plate — so many identical copies can be made. A painting is unique; prints are multiples of an existing image.