Formulas & shortcuts
Visual Arts · 10
Every formula in this course and the easiest ways to remember them, on one page.
1The alphabet of art: elements and colourBeginner
The elements of art
Open lessonColour theory: the colour wheel and harmony
Open lesson2Drawing, perspective and compositionIntermediate
Drawing basics: perspective and proportion
Open lessonComposition: rule of thirds, balance, rhythm and focal point
Open lesson3Art history, national heritage and designAdvanced
Art history: from caves to modern art
Open lessonAzerbaijani fine and applied art
Open lessonBasics of design and digital art
Open lesson4Art studies: analysis and criticismUniversity
Art analysis and criticism
Open lessonDescription → Analysis → Interpretation → Judgement
- DescriptionWhat do I see? Subject, figures, medium, size — facts only, no evaluation.
- AnalysisHow is it made? How the elements (line, value, colour) and principles (balance, rhythm, focus) work.
- InterpretationWhat does it mean? A hypothesis about meaning, built on the analysis, symbols and context.
- JudgementDoes the work achieve its aim? A reasoned opinion with its criteria stated openly.
The model of criticism proposed by the American art educator Edmund Feldman.
Natural subject matter → Conventional subject matter → Intrinsic meaning
- 1. Pre-iconographic descriptionForms recognised from everyday experience: a woman, a skull, a candle, flowers.
- 2. Iconographic analysisThemes, characters and attributes known from texts and tradition: a skull = a reminder of death.
- 3. Iconological interpretationThe work as a document of its age, society and worldview: why this theme then and there?
Erwin Panofsky's three-level model (Studies in Iconology, 1939).