Useful and practical vocabulary to describe a picture or painting, including the descriptions of emotions.

1. Describing Pictures

2. In the top left At the top In the top right
In the background
In the middle
On the left (side) On the right (side)
In the foreground
In the bottom left At the bottom In the bottom right

3. Now describe this painting:
Office at night, Edward Hopper (1940)

4. Does this picture show...
 Motion... or stillness?
 How would you describe the movement in this
photo?

6. Composition
When we talk about the composition of a photo, we are talking about the
use of...
 Light: Are there light colours, or are the colours dark? Where are the
colours light/dark?
 Where is the light coming from? How does it illuminate the
people/objects/spaces in the painting? Is there contrast between
light/darkness? Is that on purpose?
 Concentration: Is there a lot of space between objects, or are the
objects close together?

7. Now you try:
 How are the colours?
 How is the light? Why?
 What is the painter trying
to tell us with these resources?

8. Emotions
How does the painting
make you feel?

10. Now describe these paintings (what you see, movement, colours, light,
feelings, etc.) and add their titles, painters, style and dates: