painterly

American  

[peyn-ter-lee] / ˈpeɪn tər li /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a painter.

2. Fine Arts. characterized by qualities of color, stroke, or texture perceived as distinctive to the art of painting, especially the rendering of forms and images in terms of color or tonal relations rather than of contour or line.

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painterly British  

/ ˈpeɪntəlɪ /

adjective

1. having qualities peculiar to painting, esp the depiction of shapes by means of solid masses of colour, rather than by lines Compare linear

2. of or characteristic of a painter; artistic

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Etymology

Origin of painterly

First recorded in 1580–90; painter ¹ + -ly

Explanation

Something that's painterly resembles or shares the qualities of a painting. You could admire the painterly style of your four year-old cousin's crayon picture of her cat. Painterly technique might include brush strokes, use of color, or the particular texture of a work of art. Something with painterly qualities might not even be a painting — it could be a photograph or a drawing that mimics the style of a painting. This adjective can also describe a person who see things the way a painter might, like your friend who snaps photos on her phone and is praised for her painterly eye.

Example Sentences

A sprawling 1,000-piece puzzle with a painterly scene.

From Salon • Feb. 3, 2026

His student competition pictures of the 1770s are rendered in the painterly technique and pastel colors associated with the Rococo style of François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

The execution is nevertheless lush, sometimes startlingly beautiful, and painterly and evocative of Johnson’s elegiac theme about a bygone America.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

Adding to the mystique is a painterly palette of primary colors.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2025

The icing had been applied in thick, painterly swirls.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood