You don’t have to be a snobby art critic to do well with art content on the MAT. To make the right connections on the Miller Analogies Test, you just need to know the major developments, works, and people of art history.
Start by brushing up on your knowledge of art and art techniques by studying these terms and their definitions.
Art Deco: Style popular in the 1920s and 1930s, known for its symmetry and bold colors
Baroque: Elaborate and decorative style
Bauhaus: German school of design and art
Caricature: A portrait with exaggerated features
Carving: Using tools to shape an object by shaving off parts of it
Classicism: Art based on Greek or Roman influences
Cubism: Style that uses geometrical forms; Pablo Picasso produced works in the cubist style
Dada: Anti-establishment art style
Etching: Using acid to create art in metal
Expressionism: Style that expressed emotion as opposed to realistic representa-tion; Vincent van Gogh produced works in the expressionist style
Fresco: A painting on plaster, usually done as a mural; Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is a well-known fresco
Graffiti: Pictures or writing illegally placed on property
Impressionism: Style showing the artist’s impression of the subject rather than a realistic one; Claude Monet produced works in the impressionist style
Mosaic: Work of art made of many small pieces joined together
Motif: Repeated theme or pattern in a work
Mural: A painting that covers a wall or ceiling
Paper Mache: A crafting material made of paper and an adhesive
Pointillism: Painting style that uses many tiny dots to form an image
Portrait: A piece of art focusing on the face of a person
Primary colors: Red, blue, and yellow; they can be combined to make all the oth-er colors
Realism: Art genre that depicts things as they are in reality
Sculpture: Three-dimensional art made by carving or assembling
Still Life: A piece of art that focuses on inanimate objects
Surrealism: Art style with bizarre or surprising imagery
Tempera: Paint made with egg yolks
Whittling: Carving wood or bone with a knife