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Art & Art History vocabulary · Describing & Interpreting Art

Subject matter

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

nounCore term

In art & art history, subject matter means: What an artwork shows or is about, such as a battle, a bowl of fruit, a myth or a social issue, as opposed to how it is made.

In Turkish: konu, eserin konusu

How it is used

Used in visual analysis to separate content from form and style. Students usually describe the subject matter first, then the composition and technique. It is uncountable; subject alone is also common (the subject of the painting).

Example sentences

  1. Caravaggio shocked some patrons by using ordinary people as models for religious subject matter.

  2. Start your essay with the subject matter, then discuss the use of colour.

Common collocations

  • religious subject matter
  • everyday subject matter
  • choice of subject matter
  • unusual subject matter
  • depictTo show a person, scene or idea in a picture, sculpture or other artwork.
  • iconographyThe study of the symbols, figures and themes in artworks and what they meant to people at the time; also the set of images linked to a particular subject.
  • styleThe particular way an artwork looks that links it to an artist, a group, a place or a period, shown in its forms, colours, technique and subjects.
  • compositionThe way the parts of an artwork, such as figures, shapes, colours and empty spaces, are arranged within the picture or space.

More terms: Describing & Interpreting Art

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