How do you know when an artist is telling a story?
To decide whether a painter is visual narrative, you should ask yourself three questions:
- Does the artwork suggest the passage of time (as opposed to being static, like a still life)?
- Does it seem to have a beginning and an end?
- Does it hint at something that happened outside of the picture frame?
If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," then the artist is probably telling a story.
How do you read these stories? To read a narrative painting, you don't necessarily start to the left and move toward the right the way you read a book. Instead you begin at the focal point {the place where the artist leads your eye). The focal point may be the beginning of the story - but it can also be The climax.
