"Art is not the possession of the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians; it is the authentic expression of any and all individuality. Those who have the gift of creative expression in unusually large measure disclose the meaning of the individuality of others to those others. In participating in the work of art, they become artists in their activity. They learn to know and honor individuality in whatever form it appears. The fountains of creative activity are discovered and released. The free individuality which is the source of art is also the final source of creative development in time."
— John Dewey
Tropes that occur in or are related to art of the sort you would find in a museum or gallery — anywhere from the Louvre to DVD Extras. See Art for an index of works. For tropes that have to do with art supplies and utensils, see Writing and Drawing Index.
Movements:
Sub-indices:
- Abstraction
- Academicism
- Art Deco
- Art Nouveau
- Classicism
- Dada
- Digital Art
- Expressionism
- Fantasy Art
- Impressionism
- Neoclassicism
- Pop Art
- Postmodernism
- Pre Raphaelite
- Prehistoric Art
- Romanticism
- Sequential Art
- Surrealism
Tropes:
- Anomalous Art: Art with Supernatural Properties.
- Art Attacker: Art with combat applications.
- Art Course: Art-Based Video Game Level.
- Art Evolution: Art-style changes over time.
- Art Imitates Art: Homages to works of art.
- Art Initiates Life: Art comes to life.
- Art Reflects Personality: An artist's personality is reflected in their work.
- Art Shift: A sudden change in art style.
- Art-Shifted Sequel: The sequel has a different art style than the original.
- Art-Style Dissonance: The art-style clashes with what's actually happening.
- Artsy Beret: Berets are the hats of artists and artsy types.
- Artist Disillusionment: An artist disowns their art and its fans.
- Artistic License – Art: Fine-art in Real Life isn't like how you see it on TV.
- Artistic Stimulation: Artists are junkies.
- Artists Are Attractive: Chicks dig artsy types.
- ASCII Art: Pictures "drawn" via typing letters and other characters into place.
- "Back to Camera" Pose: A Stock Pose where a person looks to the audience behind them.
- Bob Ross Rib: Stock Parodies of Bob Ross.
- Bowdlerise: Censorship into a family-friendly version.
- The Burlesque of Venus: Stock Parodies of Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
- Canines Gambling in a Card Game: Stock Parodies of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Indication through coloring.
- Concept Art: First-draft drawings and models.
- Concept Art Gallery: A collection of Concept Art.
- Cope by Creating: Working through trauma via art therapy.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Art sells better when its creator dies.
- Death and the Maiden: Artistic motif of Death is accompanied by a maiden.
- Design Student's Orgasm: True Art is really busy visually.
- Droste Image: An image with a copy of the image with a copy of the image, etc., etc.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: A character's appearance looks different after the first episode.
- Eccentric Artist: Artists act weird.
- Face on the Cover: A main character's face in close-up.
- Fan Art: Art made by fans.
- Giftedly Bad: Someone, typically an artist, who plies their trade with intense passion, infinite drive, supreme self-confidence, and absolutely no talent whatsoever.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Character Alignment is Colour-Coded for Your Convenience.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Character Alignment indicated via wing design.
- Gratuitous Special Effects: Superfluously used effects.
- Intimate Artistry: You can tell that the model and artist are close through a depiction.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: Nudes are treated as Art instead of Pornography.
- It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: Everyone likes this work of art, so therefore it's overrated.
- Ironically Disabled Artist: An artist's handicap contradicts their art's medium.
- Lazy Artist: An artist who doesn't put any detail into his work.
- Mad Artist: Art Villain.
- Mismatched Atomic Expressionism: An art and animation style associated with the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by cheaply-made geometric stylization.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: The less you have on the cover, the artsier it gets.
- Mistaken for Exhibit: A regular object or event is mistaken for an art installation.
- Muse Abuse: Using a person in their art without consent.
- Mustache Vandalism: Violating a work of art by drawing or painting a mustache on it.
- My Art, My Memory: An amnesiac recovering lost memories by depicting them.
- One-Track-Minded Artist: An artist is obsessed with creating only a single specific subject.
- Our Alebrijes Are Different: Pedro Linares Lopez's Alebrijes depicted as living, breathing creatures.
- Pawprint Stamping: Pawprints as artwork.
- Pietà Plagiarism: Stock Parodies of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Pietà.
- Playing Pictionary: An artist wannabe's drawings are indecipherable to other people.
- Posthumous Popularity Potential: Dead Artists Are Better in Real Life.
- Public Medium Ignorance: When The Theme Park Version is believed to be the Real Life version.
- Putto: Those naked toddlers you see in paintings and sculptures.
- Reclining Venus: Stock Pose of naked ladies lying back.
- Reclusive Artist: Artists that willingly are shut-ins and lack a strong public persona.
- Saving the World With Art: Heroes saving the day via making something to inspire the masses.
- "The Scream" Parody: Stock Parodies of Edvard Munch's The Scream.
- Sensitive Artist: Artists are emotional and intuitive.
- Sequential Artist: In-Universe fiction artists.
- Sistine Steal: Stock Parodies of Michelangelo Buonarroti's ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel.
- Starving Artist: Artists are poor.
- Tableau: A static image.
- Terrible Artist: This guy is Giftedly Bad at making art.
- Too Upset to Create: An artist loses their will to make art due to emotional distress.
- The Treachery of Images: Playing on the ambiguity between an image of an object and the object itself.
- True Art: What is this "art" thing, anyway?
- True Art Is Ancient: The best art is old.
- True Art Is Angsty: The only art worth investing in is Wangsty
- True Art Is Boring: The only art worth investing in is bland and uninteresting.
- True Art Is Incomprehensible: The only art worth investing in is ambiguous.
- The Walrus Was Paul: Being Incomprehensible was the whole point.
