Advanced Study of Decorative Painting: Decorative Examples

Author: Wu Lifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: Decorative painting, in terms of its artistic form and style, is a type of painting. Compared to painting styles that tend toward realism, decorative painting is rich in ornamentation. However, there is no absolute boundary between the two.
The scope of decorative painting is very broad. Many domestic and international works classify paintings with decorative functions and murals, such as the works of Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Klimt, Klee, Miró, Monet, as well as Greek vase paintings, Egyptian murals, Dunhuang murals, Japanese ukiyo-e, and folk New Year paintings, as part of the study of painting.
Decorative painting emphasizes artistic autonomy and the externalization of formal beauty. It differs greatly from realistic painting in its depiction of objective nature. Instead of merely reflecting nature, decorative painting transcends and elevates it, presenting artistic images as transformed and reconstructed nature. The fundamental difference between decorative painting and realistic painting lies in their expressive forms. Decorative painting processes objective nature through refinement, generalization, deformation, color change, tonal adjustment, and spatial transformation, giving it an unconventional and novel appearance distinct from nature.
From a social perspective, decorative painting comprehensively summarizes popular art forms and elevates this public art with temporal and mass characteristics to a level of social group significance and academic meaning, even pure art. It seeks to find patterns, inherit traditions, and explore innovation.
Decorative painting is a comprehensive art style that combines the language of decorative expression with decorative symbols, integrating painting art and design principles. Like lyrical poetry, light music, or a diverse dance, decorative painting possesses artistic features such as ornamentation, romanticism, orderliness, unconventionality, and expressiveness.