VCE STUDIO ART

ARTWORK ANALYSIS
Use this sheet as a set of questions to prompt yourself when analysing artwork.

Looking questions
These questions prolong the looking process to engage students with small, sometimes
unnoticed details, setting the stage for meaning making and forming a relationship with
the work. They also draw upon students observational and interpretative skills.

Look at the image silently for up to three minutes.

What are your first impressions?
What do you see?
What is going on in the picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can you find?
How does it make you feel?
Interpretative questions

When students respond to the following questions, they should be encouraged to explain
the visual evidence that has led them to the initial ideas about the work of art. This
promotes the development of higher-order thinking and visual literacy skills. In addition,
they should be reminded to listen to and consider the views of others and discuss multiple
possible interpretations.
What do you think the work is about?
How does it remind you of an experience in your life?
Why do you think the work was created?
Hypothetical questions
These are what if questions that encourage students to think imaginatively about
particular situations from various perspectives.
If you stepped into this work of art:

What sounds would you hear?

How would you feel?
What smells would there be?
What might you taste?
What if her face was yellow?
How would this change the mood of the work?
If you had the chance to ask the artist one question, what would it be?