Meaning & use
genre painting
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A style of painting that shows ordinary people doing everyday things, such as cooking, working or relaxing in homes and streets.
Grammar: Uncountable as a type of art; countable for one picture: a genre painting.
Patterns
- a genre painting of something
The museum has a lovely genre painting of a family eating dinner.
Dutch genre painting often shows tavern scenes and kitchens.
The artist turned from portraits to genre painting.
nouncountable
An individual picture of this kind, often small and detailed, that records daily life in a certain time and place.
Grammar: Used for a single work: a genre painting hung in the hall.
Patterns
- a genre painting by someone
Her favorite genre painting shows women sewing by a window.
The collector bought a genre painting from nineteenth-century France.
Each genre painting gives clues about how people lived.
Word forms
| plural | genre paintings |
|---|
Common combinations
- Dutch genre painting
- Dutch genre painting flourished in the 1600s.
- a charming genre painting
- The gallery displayed a charming genre painting of a market.
- paint a genre scene
- He liked to paint genre scenes of village life.
- the tradition of genre painting
- The tradition of genre painting spread across Europe.
- a genre painting of daily life
- She sketched a genre painting of daily life in the city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scene of everyday life
- A scene of everyday life is a plain description and not a recognized art category.
- portrait
- A portrait focuses on one named person, while a genre painting shows anonymous people in ordinary situations.
- landscape
- A landscape shows scenery, whereas genre painting shows people's activities.
- still life
- A still life shows objects, with no figures acting.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: genre painting or genre?
genre painting vs genre
In everyday talk, genre means a type of book or film, but in art history genre painting means a specific kind of daily-life picture.
Practice
A small picture showing a woman peeling apples in a kitchen is best described as a ___.
Choose one answer.
Genre painting shows ordinary daily activity. A history painting depicts major historical or mythological events, a landscape shows scenery and a royal portrait would focus on a named person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “genre painting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.