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I am creating a portfolio of painter's works and I need to categorize them.

There will be two global categories:

  1. Paintings on canvas
  2. Painting on walls and ceilings

The paintings on canvas divide into "Portraits", "Landscapes", and so on.

How should I call paintings of walls and ceilings in English?

Maybe there is some precise word? I haven't found it, using translators from Russian.

RegDwigнt
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Edward Ruchevits
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2 Answers2

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They are called murals.

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.

coleopterist
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  • Thank you for your answer, but actually not every wall-painting can be called "mural", but only if it was painted on a wet plaster. Maybe there is more general term for all wall-paintings? – Edward Ruchevits Sep 08 '12 at 16:08
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    Every wall painting is a mural. It is a "fresco" only if painted on wet plaster. – GEdgar Sep 08 '12 at 16:14
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    @EdwardRuchevits I'm sure you know more about this subject than I do, but is it possible, as coleopterist's link explains, that mural applies to any wall painting, fresco refers to what you describe and secco refers to painting on dry walls? I defer to your expertise on the subject. – Mike Sep 08 '12 at 16:16
  • OK, seems, you are right. Thank you very much again! – Edward Ruchevits Sep 08 '12 at 16:17
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The word you are looking for is mural, which per the OED is

A painting executed on a wall or ceiling as part of a scheme of decoration.

Etymology: a. Fr. muraille: Com. Rom. muralia (repr. L. mūrālia neut. pl. of mūrālis mural a., taken as fem. sing.: see -al1 5); cf. Sp. muralla, Pg. muralha, Ital. muraglia; also OFr. murail, Pr. muralh masc.

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tchrist
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