Valencian Community PAU Artistic Foundations cheat sheet

Basic visual elements: point (attractor of attention), line (direction and contour), plane (surface and shape), texture (tactile or simulated), and colour (hue, value, saturation).

Perceptual codes: figure/ground (Rubin vase), closure (Gestalt), proximity, similarity, continuity and common fate group elements into readable forms.

Compositional codes: rule of thirds, golden section (~1.618), diagonal, triangular and L-shaped structures, horizon placement and negative space.

Functions of the image: informative, persuasive (advertising), aesthetic, expressive, narrative, ritual/religious, and documentary.

Iconicity scale: photograph (high indexicality) → realistic painting → stylised graphic → pictogram → abstract sign (low iconicity).

Denotation = literal, first-level meaning; connotation = cultural, symbolic, ideological second-level meaning (Barthes).

Rhetorical figures in images: metonymy (part for whole), metaphor (visual analogy), hyperbole (exaggeration), antithesis (contrast).

Reading path depends on size, contrast, colour temperature (warm advances, cool recedes), gaze direction and cultural convention.

Dry media: graphite (gradation, gloss), charcoal (broad tonal masses, fixative needed), sanguine and conté (warm mid-tones), pastel (pigment plus minimal binder).

Wet media: ink (line, hatching, wash), watercolour (transparent glazes, paper white as light), gouache (opaque, matte), tempera, oil (slow drying, blending), acrylic (fast drying).

Drawing supports and tools: paper weight/grain, toned paper for highlights, eraser as drawing tool, hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, frottage, sgraffito.

Colour models: additive RGB (light, screens) vs subtractive CMY/CMYK (pigment, print); primary, secondary and tertiary relationships on the colour wheel.

Colour properties: hue (family), value/tone (light-dark), saturation/chroma (purity); complementary contrast, simultaneous contrast (Chevreul), warm-cold contrast.

Tonal system: chiaroscuro modelling, tenebrism (strong darkness), sfumato (soft blurred transitions), local colour vs optical/apparent colour.

Compositional analysis grid: format and proportion, visual weight balance (symmetry/asymmetry), rhythm, scale, focal point, perspective type, light source, texture contrast.

Perspective: linear (vanishing point, horizon line), aerial/atmospheric (value and saturation decrease with distance), isometric and axonometric alternatives.

Prehistoric: Lascaux and Altamira cave painting (natural pigments, bison); Venus figurines (Willendorf); megaliths (menhir, dolmen, cromlech) as architecture of ritual.

Egyptian canon: frontal-shoulder/profile-head convention, register bands, hieratic scale, hieroglyphs, mastaba, pyramid and hypostyle temple; Amarna naturalism under Akhenaten.

Greek orders: Doric (no base, plain capital), Ionic (volutes, base), Corinthian (acanthus); Parthenon = Doric peripteral, Phidias sculpture, entasis and optical corrections.

Greek sculpture evolution: Archaic kouros/kore (frontal, archaic smile) → Severe style → Classical contrapposto (Polykleitos' canon) → Hellenistic pathos (Laocoön, Pergamon altar).

Roman contributions: arch, vault, dome (Pantheon oculus), concrete (opus caementicium), Tuscan/Composite orders, veristic portraiture, historical relief (Trajan's Column).

Early Christian and Byzantine: basilica plan, mosaic (gold ground, frontality, hierarchy), Ravenna (San Vitale), Hagia Sophia pendentive dome, iconoclasm controversy.

Romanesque: thick walls, small windows, barrel vault and groin vault, pilgrimage plan with ambulatory and radiating chapels, tympanum sculpture (Autun, Moissac).

Gothic: pointed arch, rib vault, flying buttress, stained glass, rose window, verticality; Chartres, Notre-Dame, León and Burgos cathedrals; International Gothic (Gentile da Fabriano).

Renaissance: linear perspective (Brunelleschi, Alberti), humanist proportion, oil technique in Flanders (Van Eyck), sfumato and terribilità (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael).

Mannerism: elongated figures, artificial colour, spatial ambiguity (El Greco, Parmigianino); Baroque: tenebrism (Caravaggio), dynamism, theatrical light (Bernini, Rubens, Velázquez).

18th–19th century sequence: Rococo → Neoclassicism (Winckelmann, David) → Romanticism (Friedrich, Delacroix) → Realism (Courbet) → Impressionism (plein air, broken brushwork) → Post-Impressionism (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin).

Avant-gardes 1900–1945: Fauvism (colour autonomy), Cubism (analytic/synthetic, collage), Futurism, Expressionism (Die Brücke, Der Blaue Reiter), Dada (readymade), Surrealism (automatism, dream imagery), Constructivism, De Stijl, Bauhaus.

Post-war movements: Abstract Expressionism (action painting, colour field), Informalism, Pop Art (Warhol, Lichtenstein), Minimalism, Arte Povera, Conceptual Art, Land Art, Body Art, Neo-expressionism.

Spanish art landmarks: Velázquez (Las Meninas), Goya (black paintings, Los Caprichos), Picasso (Guernica, Cubism), Dalí, Miró, Sorolla (luminism), Tàpies (matter painting).

Analysis vocabulary: autonomy of the medium, abstraction, ready-made, installation, performance, site-specific, interdisciplinarity, spectator participation.

Contemporary issues: globalisation of the art market, biennials, digital and post-internet art, identity and postcolonial critique, institutional critique, art and ecology.

Design process: brief → research → sketches → prototypes → testing → production; constraints of function, material, cost, ergonomics and sustainability.

Elements of graphic design: typography (serif, sans-serif, display; kerning, tracking, leading), grid systems, hierarchy, white space, logotype vs isotype vs pictogram.

Colour in design: RGB for screens, CMYK for print, Pantone spot colour; contrast ratios for accessibility (WCAG), colour-blind safe palettes.

Historical milestones: Arts and Crafts (Morris), Art Nouveau, Deutscher Werkbund, Bauhaus (Gropius, typography and functionalism), Ulm School, Swiss/International Typographic Style.

Industrial design landmarks: Thonet bentwood, Bauhaus tubular steel (Breuer), streamlining, Braun functionalism (Rams' ten principles), Italian Radical Design.

Applied arts: ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, furniture, jewellery; distinction between craft (unique, handmade) and design (serial, reproducible).

Visual communication: poster (Cassandre, Toulouse-Lautrec), corporate identity manual, signage systems (pictograms), infographics, packaging, interface/UX design.

Spanish and Valencian design: tile and ceramics tradition (Manises, l'Alcora), furniture industry, Fallas poster tradition, contemporary Valencian graphic studios.

Photography basics: aperture (f-number, depth of field), shutter speed (motion), ISO (sensitivity/noise), exposure triangle, focal length (wide vs telephoto).

Photographic genres: portrait, landscape, documentary, photojournalism, fashion, still life, abstract; decisive moment (Cartier-Bresson); pictorialism vs straight photography.

Cinema language: shot scale (long shot, medium, close-up), camera angle (low, high, Dutch), movement (pan, tilt, dolly, tracking, crane), depth of field and focus.

Editing: cut, fade, dissolve, match cut, jump cut, montage (Eisenstein's dialectical montage), continuity rules (180-degree rule, eyeline match).

Sound and narrative: diegetic vs non-diegetic sound, voice-over, leitmotif, three-act structure, genre conventions, auteur theory.

Film history: Lumière actualités, Méliès fantasy, German Expressionism, Soviet montage, Hollywood classical style, Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, New Hollywood.

Digital media: raster vs vector, resolution and compression, codec, aspect ratio, social media formats (vertical video), remix culture, memes as visual rhetoric.

Critical concepts: intertextuality, remediation, media convergence, spectatorship (male gaze, Mulvey), stereotyping and representation, algorithmic curation.

Prehistoric: Cova dels Cavalls (Valltorta, Castellón) Levantine rock art, UNESCO World Heritage; Palaeolithic cave art at Cova de les Meravelles; Iberian sites such as La Bastida de les Alcusses.

Roman: Saguntum theatre and forum, Valentia (Valencia) forum and circus remains, Lucentum (Alicante), La Almoina archaeological centre, Roman aqueducts and bridges.

Medieval Islamic: Balansiya (Valencia) and Sharq al-Andalus, Madinat al-Zahra influence; Almohad and Mudejar architecture, Miguelete tower base, Almoina cistern, Moorish ceramics.

Gothic and religious architecture: Valencia Cathedral (Chapel of the Holy Chalice, Romanesque-Gothic transition), Lonja de la Mercaderia (UNESCO), Serranos and Quart towers, Santa María de Morella.

Renaissance and Baroque: El Patriarca college, Santos Juanes, Basilica of the Virgin, Castellón's Concatedral, Orihuela cathedral, Valencian Baroque altarpieces and gilding.

Painters and sculptors: Joan de Joanes and Vicente Macip (Renaissance), Francisco Ribalta and José de Ribera (tenebrism), Ignacio Pinazo, Joaquín Sorolla (luminism), Mariano Benlliure (sculpture).

Modern architecture: Antoni Gaudí's Colonia Güell influence, Valencian Art Nouveau (Mercado de Colón), Central Market (modernist iron and glass), Félix Candela and Santiago Calatrava (City of Arts and Sciences).

Museums and institutions: Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, IVAM, Museo del Gremi de Sastres, Museo Arqueológico de Alicante (MARQ), Museo de Bellas Artes de Castellón, Palau de les Arts.

Commentary structure: identification (title, author, date, style, technique, location) → formal analysis → iconographic/iconological reading → historical and social context → conclusion and significance.

Formal analysis checklist: format, composition, line vs colour dominance, light, perspective, texture, chromatic range, spatial treatment, figure treatment.

Iconography (Panofsky): pre-iconographic description → iconographic identification → iconological interpretation of cultural meaning.

Comparison protocol: state the theme shared, then contrast technique, form, function, context and style, and close with what the comparison reveals about each work.

Terminology precision: use period-specific terms (contrapposto, tenebrism, horror vacui, impasto, foreshortening) rather than generic adjectives.

Source criticism: distinguish primary sources (contracts, treatises, the work itself) from secondary sources (historiography, catalogues); date and attribute carefully.

Style identification heuristics: frontality and hierarchy → medieval; proportion and perspective → Renaissance; diagonal and dramatic light → Baroque; broken brushwork → Impressionism.

Avoid presentism and anachronism; contextualise patronage, religious function, gender and class; flag uncertain attributions explicitly.