How to Write an Art Essay

Writing an essay about a piece of art is best approached by considering two things:

1. What did the artist set out to accomplish?
2. How well did that artist achieve her goal?
This criteria is useful in a few ways. It's relatively fair (you won't be holding the work to unrealistic standards), it clearly sets up the basis for your critique, and looking at a work this way avoids a thumbs-up or thumbs-down review. You can use this approach to write about a book, movie, theatrical performance, painting, piece of music or any other creative work.

The bulk of the work of writing about art is actually the time it takes to analyze the work and write the outline. There are some challenging steps in the first parts of this how-to, but if you have a strong, solid outline, the writing will be easy.

Things You'll Need

• Copy of the creative work you are writing about Computer OR Paper and pen/pencil

Instructions

Analyzing the work

1. Write what you think the artist was trying to achieve with this work of art.

   The famous Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century, is a notoriously inscrutable painting. You cannot, obviously, know exactly what da Vinci intended by painting this portrait. Many accomplished art historians have written extensively about this painting. So what can there be for you to say? Plenty.

   In this example, an essay on the well-known painting the Mona Lisa, you might conclude that the artist was trying to paint a portrait that told a story about a particular woman. This may seem obvious, but remember that goal is quite different from, say, an instructional painting with an obvious religious allegory or an abstract modern painting, and so the evaluation of this particular work will accordingly be different.

2. Write what you know or feel as a result of the creative work.

   For instance, what do you know about the woman from looking at how she was painted by da Vinci? These needn't be facts about her identity, but rather impressions that you have of her.

   Be as honest and specific about your reactions as you can. Do not worry about your own authority. You don't need to be a professional art critic or have painted an Italian masterpiece yourself to be able to write an effective essay about the Mona Lisa.

3. Compare your answer in Step 2 to the artist's goal in Step 1. Is your reaction what the artist intended---is the work of art successful?

   Remember that it doesn't matter whether or not you "like" whatever you are writing about. Rather you are using your own responses to write an analysis of the work itself.

   Remember that you can write an essay that examines how the work was unsuccessful using the same method as when writing an essay on a successful work.

4. List the variables---all the decisions the artist or artists had to make---that went into creating the work. In the example of the Mona Lisa, the variables would be subject, composition, materials (paint and surface), color palette, brush strokes and level of detail.

5. Write next to each variable a short description. For instance, for the Mona Lisa, you would write "subject--woman," "composition--close-up of face, centered in the frame," "color palette--muted," etc.

The thesis statement and finalizing the outline

1. Write a rough thesis statement based on all the steps above. Don't use first person, even though your own responses have informed your thinking so far.

   A rough thesis statement might be "Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is a visually beautiful painting using Renaissance painting techniques, but its subject remains mysterious."

   Your thesis statement should not be "The Mona Lisa is good."

2. Organize the variables in a way that supports your thesis statement. You don't need to include every variable you listed. You may want to write one paragraph for each variable.

3. Note how each variable contributed to the overall success (or lack of success) of the creative work.

Writing the essay

1. Write as specifically as possible when you are describing the variables and your responses to them. It is often the description that will convince your readers of your point.

2. Write an engaging introduction and satisfying conclusion.

3. Proofread your essay.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Creating a Thesis Statement