Arts visuels

Définitions

painting

a picture made with paint — the Mona Lisa is a famous painting (une peinture)

sculpture

a 3D work made from stone, metal or wood (une sculpture)

photography

art made by taking pictures (la photographie)

street art

art painted on walls in cities, e.g. Banksy's murals (l'art de rue)

installation

a modern art form where the artist creates an environment to walk into (une installation)

Vocabulaire de description d'une œuvre

composition

the way elements are arranged in the artwork (la composition)

colour palette

the set of colours used by the artist (la palette de couleurs)

perspective

the technique that creates a sense of depth, making things look near or far (la perspective)

foreground

the part of the image closest to the viewer — e.g. a tree in the foreground (le premier plan)

background

the part at the back of the image — e.g. mountains in the background (l'arrière-plan)

Exprimer une opinion sur une œuvre

Phrases utiles

• I really like this painting because… (J'aime vraiment cette peinture parce que…)
• I think it's fascinating because… (Je trouve ça fascinant parce que…)
• What I love about it is… (Ce que j'adore c'est…)
• I don't find it very interesting because… (Je ne le trouve pas très intéressant parce que…)
• In my opinion, it's too… (À mon avis, c'est trop…)
• I think it's quite unusual. (Je pense que c'est assez inhabituel.)

Astuce

Always justify with because: "I really like this street art because the colour palette is very bold and the composition draws your eye to the foreground."