The words used to describe a painting
Thirty-two terms in plain language, one sentence each: light, colour, space, surface, money and the everyday vocabulary of looking at pictures.
How to make the words stick
Attach a word to a painting
Chiaroscuro stays abstract until you meet a dark room lit by one beam. Pick a work from the gallery and find one term that describes it.
Use the words on the movement pages
Each era lists its defining traits, written in this vocabulary. The glossary is the key that makes those lines mean something.
Say it out loud once
Sfumato, tenebrism, ukiyo-e, trompe-l’œil. Reading a term silently and using it in a sentence are different skills.
Short answers
Where do these definitions come from?
They are written for this site in plain language, using the meaning each term carries in art history teaching. Where a word has two common senses, the definition names the one used on khiar.
Is a term missing?
Tell us from the contact page and we will add it, with the movement page it belongs to.
Can I print the glossary?
Yes. Printing gives you a vocabulary sheet without the navigation. Search a letter or a word first if you want a shorter handout.
Put the words to work
The glossary is the vocabulary; the movement pages are where it gets used on real paintings and real arguments.
The glossary is free. Collector adds the full gallery and offline reading for $6 a month.