From oil paint and egg tempera to watercolor, pastel, charcoal and ink, art mediums shape how colour, texture, line and light appear. Discover what different art mediums are made from, how they behave, and which famous artists used them.
An art medium is the material or combination of materials used to create an artwork. Common examples include oil paint, watercolor, tempera, gouache, pastel, charcoal, graphite and ink.
In painting, the word medium can also refer more specifically to the substance that binds pigment particles together. Oil paint, for example, combines coloured pigment with a drying oil.
Art terminology becomes much clearer once each concept is connected to the question it answers.
| Concept | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Art Form | The broad type of artwork. | Painting |
| Medium | The material used to create the artwork. | Oil paint |
| Pigment | The coloured particles that provide colour. | Earth pigment or manufactured colour pigment |
| Binder | The substance that holds pigment particles together. | Drying oil or egg yolk |
| Support | The surface carrying the image. | Canvas, panel or paper |
| Technique | The way a material is handled or applied. | Glazing or impasto |
| Subject | What the artwork depicts. | Landscape |
| Style / Movement | The visual or historical artistic tradition. | Impressionism |
For example, an Impressionist landscape painted in oil on canvas can be described as: movement = Impressionism, subject = landscape, medium = oil paint, support = canvas.
Many traditional paints begin with coloured pigment combined with a binder that holds the pigment together and allows it to adhere to a prepared surface.
Provides colour.
Holds pigment together and helps form the paint film.
A usable painting medium with properties shaped by its binder.
Traditionally, pigments are dispersed in drying oils such as linseed oil. The resulting paint can be transparent, opaque, thinly layered or heavily textured.
Egg tempera commonly uses egg yolk as the binding medium, producing a fast-drying paint suited to controlled layered work.
Watercolour uses pigment in a water-soluble binding system and is typically diluted with water during painting.
Art can be made with thousands of materials. For this guide, the focus is on traditional painting, drawing and two-dimensional fine-art media most closely connected with Alpha's artist collections.
Oil, watercolor, tempera, gouache and fresco-related painting materials.
Pastel, charcoal, graphite and related sticks, pencils and drawing materials.
Pen, brush and wash traditions created using different types of ink.
Ink transferred through processes such as woodblock printing, engraving and etching.
Artworks intentionally combining more than one medium or material system.
Different binders, pigments and supports produce different working properties. The medium can affect drying time, transparency, texture, colour saturation and the way an artist builds an image.
Oil paint is made by combining pigment with a drying oil binder, traditionally including oils such as linseed. Compared with faster-drying media, oil paint offers artists considerable time for blending, reworking and layering.
It can be applied in thin transparent glazes, opaque passages or thick impasto, which helps explain its extraordinary importance in European painting from the Renaissance onward.
Oil painting existed before Jan van Eyck. Northern European painters including Van Eyck became especially important for the sophisticated development and exploitation of oil painting rather than its invention.
In the modern art-historical use of the term, tempera often refers to paint in which egg—commonly egg yolk—acts as the binder. Egg tempera dries relatively quickly and is well suited to controlled, layered applications and fine detail.
It was especially important in medieval and early Renaissance European panel painting before oil became increasingly dominant.
Watercolour uses pigment in a water-soluble binding system and is typically painted on paper. Its transparency allows the lightness of the paper to contribute directly to the appearance of the image.
Artists can create broad washes, transparent layers, crisp controlled marks or soft wet-on-wet transitions. Those are techniques used with watercolour; watercolour itself is the medium.
Learn how media are manipulated on the Painting Techniques hub.
Gouache is a water-based painting medium generally associated with greater opacity than conventional transparent watercolour. It can create flat, saturated passages while still allowing artists to work with water-soluble paint.
Its visual behaviour depends on formulation, dilution and application, so it can range from dense opaque areas to lighter passages.
In buon fresco, pigment is applied to fresh lime plaster. As the plaster sets, the colour becomes integrated with the wall surface. Fresco therefore combines material, support and working process in a way that differs substantially from easel painting on canvas or panel.
Painting applied to dry plaster is generally described as fresco secco or a secco.
Leonardo's Last Supper should not be described as a standard buon fresco. Leonardo used an experimental wall-painting process that allowed slower, more detailed working but proved less durable.
Mixed media describes an artwork made with more than one medium. Artists may combine materials because each contributes different visual or physical properties.
Examples can include ink with watercolour, charcoal with pastel, tempera with oil, or paint combined with collage and other materials.
Not all two-dimensional art is made with liquid paint. Dry and fluid drawing media can create everything from delicate linear studies to fully developed coloured works.
Pastels are sticks composed largely of pigment with comparatively small amounts of binder and other ingredients. Their high pigment concentration can produce brilliant, direct colour and a distinctive powdery surface.
Charcoal is a carbon-based drawing medium capable of producing deep darks, broad soft passages, expressive lines and easily blended tonal areas.
Graphite is commonly used in pencils and drawing sticks. It can produce precise lines, delicate shading and highly controlled tonal modelling.
Ink can be applied with pens, reeds, brushes and other tools. Depending on formulation and technique, it may create sharp lines, expressive brush marks or diluted washes.
Natural and manufactured chalks have long been used for studies, figure drawings and finished works. Red, black and white chalk can produce very different tonal and linear effects.
Artists frequently combine drawing materials. Ink may be paired with wash, charcoal with chalk, or pastel with other dry media depending on the desired result.
Each medium has different strengths. The choice of material affects colour, line, permanence, softness and the character of the finished surface.
| Medium | Main Strength | Typical Character | Useful For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pastel | Direct colour | Soft, brilliant, powdery | Colour studies, portraits, finished works |
| Charcoal | Deep dark values | Broad, soft, expressive | Studies, figure drawing, dramatic tonal work |
| Graphite | Precision | Controlled line and tonal gradation | Studies, preparatory drawings, detailed work |
| Ink | Strong line | Graphic, fluid, often permanent | Pen drawing, brush drawing, wash |
The medium creates the image; the support carries it. This distinction explains familiar museum descriptions such as “oil on canvas” or “tempera on panel.”
Woven fabric prepared to receive paint. Canvas became especially important for oil painting.
Prepared wooden panels were major supports for tempera and early oil painting.
Commonly used for watercolour, graphite, ink, pastel, charcoal and studies.
Metal plates have also served as painting supports, particularly for certain finely worked oil paintings.
Architectural wall surfaces are essential to fresco and other forms of mural painting.
Oil identifies the painting medium. Canvas identifies the support. The description does not tell us the subject, style or technique.
These are representative associations rather than complete inventories. Many artists worked in several media and changed materials throughout their careers.
Leonardo experimented with multiple drawing and painting materials while developing exceptionally subtle modelling and surface effects.
Explore Leonardo →Tempera Sandro BotticelliBotticelli's paintings provide an important pathway into the tempera-based traditions of Renaissance panel painting.
Explore Botticelli →Oil TitianVenetian oil painting allowed Titian to explore rich colour, layered paint and increasingly visible handling.
Explore Titian →Oil RembrandtRembrandt's oil paintings demonstrate extraordinary variation between thin passages, transparent layers and heavy texture.
Explore Rembrandt →Watercolour · Oil J. M. W. TurnerTurner worked extensively in both watercolour and oil, making him ideal for comparing atmosphere across different media.
Explore Turner →Pastel · Oil Edgar DegasDegas is especially important for understanding the expressive possibilities of pastel alongside oil and other drawing media.
Explore Degas →Oil Claude MonetOil paint supported Monet's exploration of changing light, colour relationships and repeated observations of landscape.
Explore Monet →Oil Vincent van GoghVan Gogh exploited the physical body of oil paint through strongly visible marks and thickly applied passages.
Explore Van Gogh →Ink · Colour · Print Context Katsushika HokusaiHokusai's work connects drawing and painting materials with the collaborative production processes of Japanese woodblock printing.
Explore Hokusai →An artist's identity is not tied to one material. Comparing several media used by the same artist can reveal how material properties affect line, colour, atmosphere and working speed.
Turner worked extensively in both media, making him one of the clearest examples of how an artist can pursue similar interests through different materials.
Degas's use of pastel demonstrates how dry colour can become a major finished medium rather than merely a preparatory drawing tool.
Leonardo's drawings and paintings demonstrate how line-based study and painted tonal modelling can serve very different investigative purposes.
Two artists can use the same medium and produce radically different results. Material creates possibilities and limitations, but artistic choices, techniques, subject and historical context also matter.
The same subject can look completely different depending on the medium. Landscape provides an especially clear way to compare material possibilities.
Oil allows opaque passages, glazes, blending, visible brushwork and substantial physical texture.
Washes and transparent colour can emphasize atmosphere, changing weather and luminous paper.
Dry pigment can create rich colour relationships with a soft, powdery and immediate surface.
Ink can reduce a scene to powerful lines, brush marks and washes while maintaining strong graphic clarity.
Art materials did not evolve through a simple process in which one medium replaced another. Old and new materials frequently coexisted, and artists continued to revive, adapt and combine earlier practices.
Early artists worked with pigments on architecture, panels and other surfaces using several binding systems and painting processes.
Egg-based tempera became an important medium for panel painting, alongside fresco and the materials used in illuminated manuscripts.
Tempera remained important while oil painting became increasingly sophisticated and widely adopted in European painting.
Oil became a major medium for European easel painting, supporting everything from smooth glazing to heavily textured surfaces.
Pastel became especially important for portraiture while oil painting remained central to academic and court traditions.
Artists used increasingly varied materials for finished works, studies, outdoor observations and experimental approaches.
Artists increasingly combined paint, drawing materials, collage and unconventional materials while continuing to use traditional media such as oil and watercolour.
Tempera, fresco, oil, watercolour, pastel and drawing media continue to coexist. Art history is better understood as overlapping material traditions than a simple replacement timeline.
No medium guarantees one visual result, but its physical properties can make certain effects easier or more characteristic.
Oil's relatively slow drying can allow extended blending, reworking and complex transitions.
Transparent washes can allow the support to participate visibly in the image.
High pigment concentration can produce vivid colour with an immediate powdery surface.
Charcoal can create broad dark masses, rich tonal ranges and highly expressive marks.
Graphite pencils are especially suited to controlled line, fine detail and graduated shading.
Ink can create sharp linear structures, expressive brush marks and fluid wash effects.
Fast-drying layers and controlled strokes support highly disciplined surface construction.
Combining media allows artists to bring several kinds of line, texture, colour and surface together in one artwork.
A concise guide to major media, their binders or forms, typical supports and characteristic properties.
| Medium | Basic Material / Binder | Common Support | Characteristic Possibilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil Paint | Pigment + drying oil | Canvas, panel, copper | Blending, glazing, opacity, impasto, rich tonal range |
| Egg Tempera | Pigment + egg binder | Prepared panel | Fine detail, quick drying, controlled layering |
| Watercolour | Pigment + water-soluble binder | Paper | Transparency, washes, luminous paper |
| Gouache | Water-based opaque paint | Paper / board | Flat colour, opacity, strong saturation |
| Pastel | Pigment-rich dry stick | Prepared paper / board | Direct colour, soft blending, powdery surface |
| Charcoal | Carbon-based dry material | Paper | Deep darks, broad marks, blending |
| Graphite | Graphite drawing material | Paper | Precision, line, tonal gradation |
| Ink | Fluid colouring material | Paper and other suitable surfaces | Line, brushwork, wash, strong graphic effects |
| Fresco | Pigment applied within a wall-painting process | Prepared plaster wall | Architectural integration and durable mural colour |
| Mixed Media | Two or more media combined | Varies | Expanded texture, colour and material relationships |
Medium explains what an artwork is made with. Continue through Alpha's connected authority hubs to understand technique, artist, subject, movement, period and geography.
Discover artworks through the materials and artists behind them—from Botticelli's tempera tradition and Turner's watercolours to Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh in oil. Selected works are available in museum-quality print and painting formats, with free worldwide shipping and local production where available.
Clear answers to common questions about art materials, painting media and the difference between medium and technique.
Alpha Art Gallery separates medium, support and technique because each describes a different part of an artwork's physical construction. Museum catalogue records and conservation research are especially useful for identifying the materials artists actually used.
Historical terminology can vary between periods and institutions. This guide therefore focuses on broadly accepted art-historical definitions and avoids reducing complex working methods to one material or one technique.
For related context, explore Painting Techniques, Art History Timeline, Art Movements, Painting Subjects and Art by Country.
Museum glossary explaining pigment, binder and the meaning of painting media such as tempera and oil.
Read museum source →Museum overview of oil as a painting medium and its historical development in European painting.
Read museum source →Museum definition of tempera, including the important role of egg tempera in early Italian painting.
Read museum source →Museum explanation of panel, canvas, copper and other surfaces used to carry paintings.
Read museum source →Museum definition distinguishing painting on wet plaster from painting applied to a dry wall surface.
Read museum source →Museum scholarship on pastel materials, their high pigment concentration and historical importance.
Read museum source →