Okuzeka
Art & Art History vocabulary · Visual Elements & Composition

Palette

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

/ˈpælət/nounCore term

In art & art history, palette means: The range of colours an artist uses in a work or in a period of their career; also the flat board on which a painter mixes paints.

In Turkish: palet, renk paleti, renk yelpazesi

How it is used

In art writing, palette usually means the choice of colours: a limited, muted, earthy, warm or bright palette. An artist's palette can lighten or darken over the years. The board meaning appears in studio talk and in self-portraits.

Example sentences

  1. After he moved to the south of France, his palette became much brighter.

  2. She works with a limited palette of just four colours.

Common collocations

  • limited palette
  • muted palette
  • earthy palette
  • colour palette
  • palette knife
  • pigmentA coloured powder, made from minerals, plants, insects or chemicals, that gives paint its colour when it is mixed with a binder such as oil, egg or gum.
  • contrastA strong difference between two parts of an artwork, such as light and dark, warm and cool colours, or rough and smooth surfaces.
  • brushstrokeA single mark made by a paintbrush, or the visible way an artist puts on paint; it can be smooth and hidden or thick and expressive.
  • oil paintPaint made by mixing pigments with a drying oil, usually linseed oil; it dries slowly, so artists can blend colours and build up layers.

More terms: Visual Elements & Composition

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: