Art Encyclopedia - Painterly

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Painterly
Painterly paintings rely on brush strokes and impasto. It is that quality of a picture in which the manipulation of the medium is not only obvious but an integral part of the picture's totality.

Painterly is a translation of the German term malerisch, its opposite character is linear painting or formal linear design. An oil painting is painterly when there are visible brush strokes, and/or a rough impasto surface. This appearance might occur in oils, acrylics, watercolors, gouache, or any medium where a brush is used.

Painterly art makes strong coloristic use of the many visual effects produced by paint on canvas such as chromatic progression, warm and cool tones, complementary and contrasting colors, broken tones, broad brushstrokes, impressionism, impasto and also of the artist's experience in painting.