Final answer:
The idea or subject an artist expresses in a painting is known as the theme. Post-Impressionists, for example, used very bright colors and different techniques to depict feelings and emotions. Color, light, brushstrokes, and figure positioning are all elements that contribute to expressing a painting's theme.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject or idea that the artist wants to express in their painting is referred to as the theme. Artists convey themes through various elements such as color, composition, brushstrokes, and technique. For instance, the Post-Impressionists were known for painting real-life scenes with a twist, where they used very bright colors and sometimes applied these colors with thick layers of paint to convey their feelings, their subconscious, and emotions. This use of color could be unnatural, chosen by the artist to express something beyond the visible, bordering on the abstract.
Artists like Seurat, for example, applied color with tiny dots, while Cezanne focused on painting simple shapes. Van Gogh was famous for his swirling paint on the canvas with his brushes. These artists showed us different ways to express themes, emotions, and the subconscious. Gauguin saw color as the language of his dreams, and Cezanne believed that art without emotion was not truly art.
Through the use of positioning figures, utilizing light sources, color schemes, and brushstrokes, artists tell a story and emphasize the theme of their work. Whether they are portraying emotions in portraits, dramatic scenes, social events in murals, landscapes, or moving from realism to abstraction, each decision made by the artist contributes to the overall meaning of the painting and the theme they want to communicate.