Pages de Jean Kempf — Université Lumière - Lyon 2 — Département d'études du monde anglophone
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OPTION L 3 — ART AMERICAIN

SOME OF THE POINTS TO BE ANALYZED
IN AN  IMAGE (PAINTING OR PHOTOGRAPH)
This is more a "checklist" of points not to forget when you analyze a picture than a real "method" of picture analysis. It is not an outline either, but merely describes the step of the analytical process. The synthetic stage, that of the production of the analysis proper, follows it but is specific to every image.
  • Identification : author, date, type of image, title/caption, location/publication
  • (Apparent) description of the scene
  • Genre (portrait, landscape, etc.
  • Information about the painter/photographer/etc. This is to help you see certain features but should not hamper your reading. If you do not see certain "classic characteristics" of the painter in the particular painting under consideration then do not mention them (or say that they are not present here).
  • Treatment/techniques/form:
    • color / line : composition, contrast, framing
    • Atmosphere
    • time/narration: does it tell a story, or is it a slice of time, etc.
    • precision of rendering, illusionism, impressionism, etc.
  • Interpretation/deeper reading/connotations:
    • meaning of title
    • rhetorical figures
    • reflexivity
    • symbolism . . . 
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