How to judge artwork

Have you ever been to an art museum and wished to appreciate art like art savvy? You wish you had an artistic background to judge a piece of work using more persuasive words other than « Good », « Bad » or « Ugly ». Don't despair, the following steps will help you judge artwork easily without knowing nothing about art.

Step 1. What do you feel ?

When you approach the painting or any other work of art, do not try to read the title and description right away. Relax and look at the image. What kind of feelings arise from what you see ? Convert your emotions into words.
Let's take Oath of Horatii painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1784. When I observe this painting I feel a strong emotion of bravery, pain, effort, duty. There is an action or a decision taken with some hidden symbolic meaning in it.
The more you describe your feeling, the more you add aesthetic value to this work of art. So, any emotion matters.

Step 2. What do you see ?

Now move to the description of the object. The various elements that constitute a description may include : a form of art (ex. painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture), medium of art ( ex. paint, pen, marble, steel), size, scale, location of the scene, actions the characters are engaged in etc. You can try to guess what happened, is happening and will happen in the scene of the artwork you see if applicable.
In Oath of Horatii I see three Roman soldiers on the left, the man with swords in the center, and the three women along with two children. The three soldiers are depicted swearing upon their swords as they take their oath. They, probably, go to war. Three women, probably wifes, seem to be very upset. They are suffering, since they feel that their husbands will die. The scene is set in the gloomy hall with three columns.
This simple analysis helps to identify the general structure of the artwork. The next step will consist in examining this structure in detail.

Steps 3. How did the artist do it ?

Every artwork contains a particular set of features that an artist uses to convey specific ideas. To decipher the compositional techniques, you just need to pay attention to details of the artwork. Look into the choice of colors, the play of light and color, the contrast, the composition of elements, the look and expression of characters. Observe how persons and objects are arranged in the space.
Returning to our Oath of Horatii, I can see that straight lines of the edges of the wall blocks and floor slabs converge in the hand clasping the swords. The hand is placed in front of the vanishing point of the perspective scheme. The picture is clearly organized by groups of elements. The whole composition consists of three soldiers, three swords, three women, three arches and three columns, which may depict the symbolism of the number three. The characters show a little emotion as if they are frozen in their actions. The men are all depicted with straight lines signifying rigidity, strength and determination to do their duty. Contrary to them, the women are curved like the arches showing the personal feeling and empathy. The use of dull colors and the invisibility of brushstrokes emphasize rationality of the picture.
So, observe as many details as possible and try to guess the particularity of each detail of the artwork. Using these observations, describe the artwork in a way to explain what an artist did to make you feel what you feel looking at the work of art.

Step 4. Why did the artist create it and what does it mean ?

Now let's try to interpret the artwork. You can examine a title, a description, a main idea, a moral lesson given by the artist if available. If nothing is provided, feel free to give your own interpretation and the overall meaning of the artwork. Support your interpretation by the evidence inside or outside the artwork.
Reading a notice of The Oath of the Horatii gives a clear idea of the artwork. In the 7th century BC, the cities of Rome and Albar are at war. To put an end to this bloody conflict, each city designated champions : Rome chose the Horatii, Albar the Curiatii. The three Horatii brothers are swearing to defeat their enemies or die despite the fact that the two families were linked by marriage. They receive their swords from their father, while Sabina, the sister of the Curiatii and wife of the eldest of the Horatii, Camilla, the sister of the Horatii and betrothed to one of the Curiatii and mother of the Horatii hang their heads in sorrow.
To create a radically innovative picture, Jacques-Louis David emulates the grand style of the 17th century drawing inspiration from classicism. The painting became the masterpiece of a new style later known as neoclassicism. The composition is rigorously geometrical constructed out of contrasted forms : men in straight lines and women in curves. The figures are arranged in the space as Greek vases making the picture broad and simple. David presents this episode of the Roman history as an example of patriotic duty and sacrifice overcoming private feeling.
Interpretation can be more or less reasonable, informative, convincing but it cannot be absolutely right. It is based on a worldview and feeling of the viewer. So there can be different and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork. An artwork is not necessarily about what the artist wanted it to be about. Good interpretation invites us to complete and develop the meaning of an artwork on our own.

Step 5. What is my judgement about the artwork ?

The final step is to judge an artwork in terms of originality and rank it in relation to other works. Choose any criterion out of steps that you went through to analyse the artwork. It can be a feeling, a subject, a particular feature or the quality of the meaning of the artwork. Evaluate an artwork according to the chosen criterion and compare it with other artworks within the frame of the same criterion.
For instance, I can place The Oath of Horatii on a scale of different emotions that I feel when looking at this painting. So I can judge this artwork according to « duty », « pain », « oath », « bravery » and rank it on the same scale among other works of art. Other criteria that constitute my judgement of The Oath of Horatii may include geometrical nature of the painting, the contrast of characters, the rigidity and simplicity of forms. I can also evaluate the main idea of the artwork that stresses the importance of patriotism and self-sacrifice for one's country.
So, based on any corresponding criterion, your judgement about the artwork will be coherent and enlightening. You can make your judgement more comprehensive covering all the different sorts of criteria and looking at the artwork from various perspectives.

Making critical judgement about specific works of art is not as difficult as you think. You do not have to be a scholar, an artist or art historian to observe and analyze an artwork. Just be curious and keep committed to your journey of exploration and discovery of art. Art criticism cannot be complete without sharing it with other viewers. The real value of aesthetic judgement is bringing to unity all the diversity of art by the shared rating scales or modes apprehension. That’s what esthete.org is about.