Are Films Moving Paintings?

Cinema, often referred to as the "seventh art" by Ricciotto Canudo (Wiktionary, 2023), is a medium where visual images meet motion. However, in the history of films, there is a strong connection to static visual art forms.

Many filmmakers take inspiration from classical and modern art, turning the screens into moving canvases that feel as deep and emotional as the paintings. By carefully using colour, composition, and lighting, the director turns his film into something truly artistic.

Film as an Artistic Palette

Filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson are renowned for crafting frames that resemble paintings. Kubrick and Wes Anderson often took inspiration from Renaissance and Baroque paintings.

(“Renaissance art and architecture relied on mathematically precise compositions and designs which explored ideal harmony and the golden ratio. Artists and designers arranged elements of height, width, symmetry and proportion carefully against one another to create calm order and stability. Horizontal and vertical lines were key in helping them achieve these visual effects” (Lesso, 2023).)

Raphael’s Renaissance masterwork The School of Athens, 1511. Via Musei Vaticani

(“The Baroque took the naturalistic achievements of the Renaissance and ramped them up for heightened theatricality and dramatic effect. In art, key features are high contrast, stark lighting, elongated bodies, and exaggerated elements of motion. Strong diagonal compositions allowed them to create dynamic sensations of tension, disruption and unease” (Lesso, 2023).)

The Martyrdom of St Matthew by Caravaggio, 1600, in Contarelli Chapel, Rome, via Web Gallery of Art, Washington D.C

Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon (1975) captures Baroque painting style beautifully, using natural light and candlelit scenes to recreate the look of old classical paintings. Each scene feels like a ‘tableaux vivant’ which translated from French means ‘Living Pictures’ (Murphy, 2012). The composition of characters, props, and light in his work often mirrors the techniques found in paintings by artists like William Hogarth (1697–1764), Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88), and John Constable (1776–1837) (Watts, 2022).

 

The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth (1743)

Still image from Barry Lyndon (1975)

Wes Anderson’s film, The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), has a modern-looking aesthetic but the techniques still go back to the roots of classic art. Anderson’s great use of symmetry mimics the same symmetry used in Renaissance paintings.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci (1495-1498)

Still image from The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) 

Colour as a Narrative Tool

In paintings, colour is often used to convey emotion, guide the viewer’s eyes, and create a narrative. Filmmakers also use colour for these purposes. For example, in Schindler’s List (1993), Steven Spielberg’s use of black-and-white cinematography with a single splash of red on the coat of a young girl. This takes from the Expressionist technique (the Expressionist technique is a technique where the artist focuses on bringing out subjective emotions rather than objective reality (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019)). The contrast represents the innocence of the girl lost in the horrors of war, much like how painters use colour to highlight the most critical aspects of their work.

Still image from Schindler's List (1993)

 

Lighting: The Brushstroke of Cinema

Lighting in cinema is a crucial tool to create depth and mood, just like in paintings. Directors often use the same lighting techniques as painters. One of the most famous ones is the Rembrandt lighting.

Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique invented by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). You can tell if an image/painting uses the Rembrandt lighting just by looking for a triangle (The Rembrandt Triangle) below the subject’s eye.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Film directors usually use the Rembrandt lighting technique during emotional scenes in the film.

Rembrandt lighting in The Godfather (1972)

Conclusion

In many ways, films are moving paintings. However, in my opinion, film is a unique type of art form that combines the visual detail and richness of a painting, with the storytelling of the moving image. By taking inspiration from classical and modern art, filmmakers create moments that never get old, inviting viewers to not just watch but truly see and feel the story. Through their work, they remind us that cinema is more than just entertainment, it is art in motion.

References

Lesso, R. (2023). Renaissance vs. Baroque: What Are the Differences? [online] TheCollector. Available at: https://www.thecollector.com/renaissance-vs-baroque-what-are-the-differences/.

Murphy, S. (2012). Tableaux Vivant: History and Practice. [online] Art Museum Teaching. Available at: https://artmuseumteaching.com/2012/12/06/tableaux-vivant-history-and-practice/.

Neyman, Y. (n.d.). ‘Barry Lyndon. Kubrick’s Inspirations.’ [online] imago.org. Available at: https://imago.org/committees/education/barry-lyndon-kubrick-s-inspirations/.

Shadbolt, M. (2022). The Satisfaction of Barry Lyndon. [online] Penn Moviegoer. Available at: https://www.thepennmoviegoer.com/movie-review/the-satisfaction-of-barry-lyndon [Accessed 18 Jan. 2025].

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019). Expressionism. In: Encyclopedia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism.

Watts, M. (2022). Painting on film: Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. [online] www.acmi.net.au. Available at: https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/painting-on-film-stanley-kubricks-barry-lyndon/.

Wikipedia Contributors (2025). Rembrandt. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt#cite_note-BY-1.

Wiktionary. (2023). seventh art. [online] Available at: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seventh_art.