Talking about Art

Imagine a person asks you about your favorite piece of art. How do you answer?

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore how you can talk about art and the reasons that you like it.

Favorites

Let us begin with a question. A person asks you the following:

What is your favorite piece of art?

Pay special attention to the word "favorite." It means a thing that is liked more than others.

You can answer the question in a couple of ways. One way is to use the following structure:

My favorite piece of art is...

In general, we identify the artist and the name of the artwork after the verb BE. You can use the possessive form to identify the name of the artist and the artwork, as in:

My favorite piece of art is Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night.

In this case, the possessive marker – ‘s - is of special importance. It shows that the artwork, The Starry Night, was made by the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

If you do not want to use the possessive marker – ‘s - you can use the name of the artwork followed by the word "by," as in:

My favorite piece of art is The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

And what if you do not have a favorite piece of art? Such an exchange might go like this:

What is your favorite piece of art?

I don't have a favorite piece of art.

Or

I don't really enjoy art.

Reasons

Now imagine that a person asks you the following during an English test.

What is your favorite piece of art? Why?

You should probably give your best, most detailed answer. Such an answer would clearly state the piece of art and explain the reasons you like it.

For example, you might say:

My favorite piece of art is Hokusai's The Great Wave. I love woodblock prints, and the Berlin blue color he uses is so lovely. In addition, I find the subject matter so powerful – the giant wave is such a danger to those fishermen!

Or you could say:

My favorite piece of art is The Great Wave by Hokusai. I love the print because I enjoy learning about Japanese history. For me, the wave represents a giant force of change crashing down on society.

In the first example, the reasons given for liking the artwork relate to the kind of art (the woodblock print), the color (Berlin blue), and the subject matter (Japanese history).

In the second example, the reasons given for liking the artwork connect to the possible meaning of the artwork and its connection to history.

So, when you give reasons for liking an artwork, there are many ways to do so. You can talk about colors or the lack of colors, point of view, the kind of art (painting, calligraphy, sculpture), the artwork's connection with history and society, and so on.

Closing thoughts

Today, we have explored some ways to talk about your favorite piece of art. There are certainly more ways to do so!

Still, let us try to use some of what we have explored today. Write us a short message – three to five sentences – about your favorite piece of art. You can send your message to learningenglish@VOAnews.com

Your message does not have to be about a painting. It can be about a sculpture, writing such as calligraphy, or even photography.

I'm John Russell.

John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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couple -- n. two or a few of something

woodblock – n. a piece of wood that has a design cut into it and that is used for printing

print – n. a picture made from pressing an inked surface on paper

society -- n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values

calligraphy – n. the art of making beautiful handwriting