Article: What Makes a Painting Good or Bad?
Good art can be a matter of good concept or excellent skills in execution, but I think great art touches the mind, heart
or soul of the viewer.” -- Michael
“A painting should evoke a thought, a memory or idea to the viewer. I will give you an example . My 90-year-old
grandmother has one of my earlier paintings on her wall in a nursing home It is a painting of my grandfather (her
husband who passed away years ago) walking down to the ocean to his boat in Newfoundland from a small cabin on a
hill above the sea. I personally never appreciated the piece. She told me she looks at it every day and gets something
out of it. She loves it. I realized now that this is the whole purpose of art, to communicate a memory a thought or an
idea.” -- BrRice
“I was taught that a thought-provoking piece with the formal conditions of beauty, composition, rhythm, color
manipulation all contributed to a good work of all, but mostly it is the ‘leap in the imagination’ that stirs my soul.” --
Cynthia Houppert
“Maybe photorealism tells the viewer too much, there’s not enough left to the imagination. All the facts are there.
Maybe there’s too much information, the human brain likes to keep things simple. Some of the best artists in the world
keep their paintings simple. They convey one idea at a time. Too many ideas in one painting can complicate.” -- Brian
“I just feel we can't ignore the photorealism style as meaningful. It just seems to come down to what we like. If so, we
can't dismiss another style as meaningful because we don't have an affinity for that style. … I once read, I don't
remember where, that art is reordering nature according to our own views... a re-creation if you will. I don't think that
creating a technique or style is the quest, but rather to use a technique or style -- one ‘natural’ to the artist -- to
establish the communication.” -- Rghirardi
“What makes painting a good work of art? Plain and simple (to me anyway) something you just cannot take your eyes
off of. Something that you see that strikes your soul to the very depths, that opens your eyes and your mind to the
beauty of it.” -- Tootsiecat
“It seems to me that it comes down to a piece of work that strikes a chord with enough people so that it seems almost
naturally to assume the title of a 'great work of art'. This normally happens with art that’s been around long enough to
have been seen by enough people to make a general consensus, which makes it at least a hundred years old, except
in special cases, such as Guernica etc etc.(I'm not saying there are no exceptions). I think what makes a piece of work
great is it's ability to reach a common theme, a common thread, a common emotion for want of a better word, with
enough people. It isn't so much that it 'needs' to reach a lot of people, but just in the actual reaching out, it hits so
many people, it's universal in it's uniqueness.” -- Taffetta
“Each person is so different, what may be amazing or moving to one person may be crap to another.” -- Manderlynn
“Good art, no matter what style, has certain elements that give rise to the piece being successful, or not. It does not
have anything to do with looking ‘pretty’. Good art is not about beauty in the normal sense of the word. Someone
mentioned Guernica, by Picasso. It's a great example of great art. It's not pretty, it's disturbing. It is meant to provoke
thought... and to make a statement about a particular war. … Good art is about balance, composition, use of light, how
the artist moves the viewer’s eye throughout the piece, it's about the message, or what the artist is trying to
communicate, to convey. It is about how the artist used his medium, his skills. It is not about style. Style has nothing to
do with whether or not something is good. … Good art will always be good. Crap will never be good. Someone may like
that piece of crap, but it does not raise it to the level of good art.” -- Nancy
or soul of the viewer.” -- Michael
“A painting should evoke a thought, a memory or idea to the viewer. I will give you an example . My 90-year-old
grandmother has one of my earlier paintings on her wall in a nursing home It is a painting of my grandfather (her
husband who passed away years ago) walking down to the ocean to his boat in Newfoundland from a small cabin on a
hill above the sea. I personally never appreciated the piece. She told me she looks at it every day and gets something
out of it. She loves it. I realized now that this is the whole purpose of art, to communicate a memory a thought or an
idea.” -- BrRice
“I was taught that a thought-provoking piece with the formal conditions of beauty, composition, rhythm, color
manipulation all contributed to a good work of all, but mostly it is the ‘leap in the imagination’ that stirs my soul.” --
Cynthia Houppert
“Maybe photorealism tells the viewer too much, there’s not enough left to the imagination. All the facts are there.
Maybe there’s too much information, the human brain likes to keep things simple. Some of the best artists in the world
keep their paintings simple. They convey one idea at a time. Too many ideas in one painting can complicate.” -- Brian
“I just feel we can't ignore the photorealism style as meaningful. It just seems to come down to what we like. If so, we
can't dismiss another style as meaningful because we don't have an affinity for that style. … I once read, I don't
remember where, that art is reordering nature according to our own views... a re-creation if you will. I don't think that
creating a technique or style is the quest, but rather to use a technique or style -- one ‘natural’ to the artist -- to
establish the communication.” -- Rghirardi
“What makes painting a good work of art? Plain and simple (to me anyway) something you just cannot take your eyes
off of. Something that you see that strikes your soul to the very depths, that opens your eyes and your mind to the
beauty of it.” -- Tootsiecat
“It seems to me that it comes down to a piece of work that strikes a chord with enough people so that it seems almost
naturally to assume the title of a 'great work of art'. This normally happens with art that’s been around long enough to
have been seen by enough people to make a general consensus, which makes it at least a hundred years old, except
in special cases, such as Guernica etc etc.(I'm not saying there are no exceptions). I think what makes a piece of work
great is it's ability to reach a common theme, a common thread, a common emotion for want of a better word, with
enough people. It isn't so much that it 'needs' to reach a lot of people, but just in the actual reaching out, it hits so
many people, it's universal in it's uniqueness.” -- Taffetta
“Each person is so different, what may be amazing or moving to one person may be crap to another.” -- Manderlynn
“Good art, no matter what style, has certain elements that give rise to the piece being successful, or not. It does not
have anything to do with looking ‘pretty’. Good art is not about beauty in the normal sense of the word. Someone
mentioned Guernica, by Picasso. It's a great example of great art. It's not pretty, it's disturbing. It is meant to provoke
thought... and to make a statement about a particular war. … Good art is about balance, composition, use of light, how
the artist moves the viewer’s eye throughout the piece, it's about the message, or what the artist is trying to
communicate, to convey. It is about how the artist used his medium, his skills. It is not about style. Style has nothing to
do with whether or not something is good. … Good art will always be good. Crap will never be good. Someone may like
that piece of crap, but it does not raise it to the level of good art.” -- Nancy
From Marion Boddy-Evans,
Your Guide to Painting.
Is it possible to judge a painting as good or bad and what are the criteria?
Asking the deceptively simply question: "What makes painting a good work of art?" and
quoting Andrew Wyeth as saying "Some artist think every work they do is a work of art, I
say keep working and you may produce a work of art", Brian (BrRice) started a fascinating
debate on the Painting Forum. Here are some of the responses:
“I think that great art either causes a viewer to think or to feel. If it doesn't stir something up
they may say ‘That's nice’ and move on, and wouldn't walk 10 steps to look at it again. In
my opinion great art can be any style or technique or level of skill, but to qualify as great it
has to create a substantial amount of activity in the viewer's mind or heart.
Asking the deceptively simply question: "What makes painting a good work of art?" and
quoting Andrew Wyeth as saying "Some artist think every work they do is a work of art, I
say keep working and you may produce a work of art", Brian (BrRice) started a fascinating
debate on the Painting Forum. Here are some of the responses:
“I think that great art either causes a viewer to think or to feel. If it doesn't stir something up
they may say ‘That's nice’ and move on, and wouldn't walk 10 steps to look at it again. In
my opinion great art can be any style or technique or level of skill, but to qualify as great it
has to create a substantial amount of activity in the viewer's mind or heart.
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