What is impasto?

What is impasto?

• A. Technique of thickly laying paint onto canvas
• B. Technique of glazing with thin layers
• C. Sfumato blending
• D. Dry brush technique

Answer: (A)

Impasto is a painting technique where paint is applied in thick, chunky layers so the surface texture shows brush or knife marks. This builds up physical mass on the canvas, making light catch the ridges and giving the work a sense of presence and energy, almost sculptural in a two-dimensional surface. It’s the idea of “paint you can feel” through its texture, often achieved with oils or acrylics and applied with a brush or palette knife.

That description fits the idea of thickly laying paint onto the surface. The other techniques—glazing with very thin layers to create depth and translucency, sfumato for soft, seamless transitions, and dry brush for a dry, scratchy texture with minimal paint—do not produce the same heavy, raised surface texture that impasto creates.