1. How to Critique ART

2. We will Critique this artwork together.
The Starry Night
Vincent Van Gogh
Oil on Canvas
1889

3. Critique Instructions
When Critiquing you must use the following four steps/slides in sequence!
The Four Steps:
Describe
Analyze
Interpret
Evaluate/Judgement

4. Step One: Description
FIRST- Write down the Title, Author, Date and Style of the Artwork.
Make a list of all the things they you see in the work.
Describe the subject matter. (What it is about, what is happening, if there is no subject describe the elements)
Do not make any kind of judgment about the work.
It is Important to carefully, non-judgmentally observe the art.

5. Step 1
Swirls, stars, buildings, rolling hills, a large tree, the moon, trees, a church.
This appears to be a night time scene painted from an elevated position. There is a town in the foreground, hills in the mid-ground, and a star-filled sky in the background.

6. Step Two: Analysis
Pay close attention to which art elements the artist used. Line, Shape, Color, Value, Texture, & Space. (Form is 3-d and will not apply to painting critiques)
LOOK for ways the elements were used to organize the composition by noting the principles of art: rhythm, balance, movement, proportion, variety, emphasis, and unity.
**Remember the principles of art define how the elements are used.

7. Step 2
The Artist has used a cool color palette of blues, greens and violets, with a complimentary orange-ish yellow coloring the lights and stars.
There is a variety of line thickness and direction in the brush strokes of color.
There is a contrast of geometric shapes in the houses and the organic shapes of the surrounding landscape.
Movement is created by the swirls in the sky and the brushstrokes used. Also the tree creates a sense of motion as it wavy lines that make it extend vertically up the page.
Etc..

8. Step Three: Interpretation
List any feelings or moods you get from the artwork.
Think creatively and imaginatively at this stage.
Base your interpretation on what you’ve concluded in the first two steps of the critique process.

9. Step Three: Interpretation
Calm, excited, mellow, sad, relaxed
The colors of this artwork create a sense of calm for me and yet the yellowish orange in the moon appears like a firecracker and creates a sense of excitement at the same time.
The lines and waves of the colors used also add the calmness of this artwork reminding me of rolling water.

10. Step Four: Judgment/Evaluation
Decide whether the work is successful or has merit.
Support you judgment with answers from the first three steps.

11. Step Four: Judgment/Evaluation
This is an artwork that has successfully used the elements and principles of art to create a painting that shows emotion and life through expressive brushstrokes. The subject matter evokes a clam feeling while the colors successfully use contrast to create a calm excitement in the night time sky.
An excellent post impressionist PAINTING!