Art history no longer provides a clear guide on what is good painting. In many ways paining can be anything. For example to paint a surface with one color has something to do with the applied arts, a craft of applying color to a surface so it meets simple expectations of color and texture. When we are creative and deviate from the craft process, basically our expectations become complicated, the process and material combination is special, then we call it fine art. We would not however make an equal comparison between Rembrandt's self portrait and a single colored surface we just painted. We might describe how we painted the surface in terms of difficulty, craft, creativity and the technical level it took to complete the work. This does not compare to portrait painting but in are own right we might feel that we did an exceptional job and in our experience, we feel it represents art. If we look at a masterful work in art history, preferably something in a museum and specifically an artist's work we admire. Qualified art critics have judged the work, made comparisons and seen enough examples to announce that what is seen is a prime example of a masterful work of art. We rely on their expertise to tell us that something is good and should be appreciated for it uniqueness.  Artwork is subject to interpretation and the individual's specialty therefore there is always someone ready to disagree with his or her perspective. So when does a something becomes art? This is a complex question and requires time, knowledge and experience. Art is art when we say it is, but that does not mean anyone else will agree with you. There are many examples of this paradox in art history. Long after an artist is dead, artwork is discovered and it is recognized as important. The work becomes good art opposed to not being categorize as art before.

In the 1880's Vincent Van Gough sold one painting and while he lived his work was not considered important work. Not until the 1990's did his work became extremely valuable and was revealed to the world as special. His work was auctioned to the highest bidder as a good representation of impressionist painting and rare in accordance to the artist's personality. For all intentions and purpose, his work represented the impressionist's ideal especially if you look at how he captured rural life in his landscapes and his masterful application of paint along with his acute sensitivity to color and design. Art critics recognized his work as important, but it was the art collector that determined its value.

The artist defines painting according to their intention and the arrangement of materials that coincide with their personality. Some artists paint traditional landscapes and connects with its aesthetics defined by Lomazzo's 1590 ideas of the seven substantial parts of art, perspective, form, proportion, composition, motion, values and color. This kind of painting is judged according to aesthetic principles and realistic qualities. The artist's technique must be well crafted, few visible brushstrokes, dynamic angles preferably ¾ views or 45%, forms in natural positions as well as show overall values and colors as correctly balanced, foreground, middle ground and background space and the composition leads the eye around the entire picture plan.

In the late 1960's and 70's, the conceptual artist changes the meaning of art. A conceptual painting is about the concept, work that is reductive, minimal, no feeling, and no emotion from the artist, much like a document. The artwork is defined in terms of the concept rather then the object or aesthetic ideal. The art is a record of the artists thinking process, which can be represented in any medium or combination of mediums. Often artists use ready-mades and new technologies to record and reveal the concept. 

Joseph Bueys writes, art should be a real means, in daily life to transform societies thinking.  Bueys like many conceptual artists crosses mediums and materials to make their statement. An artist might use a classical landscape painting to make a conceptual statement. Therefore the landscape is only the means to presenting an idea. The skill to make the landscape takes second place.

Painting today is definable in terms of creativity, knowledge, clarity, consistency, concept, and not a historically definable process. This however means painting is open-ended and may involve the artist being skilled in multiple materials that cross over into methods like photography, sculpture and printmaking. Because there is no apprentice system to help the art student find their personal creative path the burden of discovery falls directly on their shoulders. The whole artist not only needs to understand diverse materials and methods, but visual forces, personal psychology and the act of being creative.

Italian Renaissance to Present

The Italian Renaissance was the Golden age of painting and artisans thought of themselves as artists. They created new paint by adding oil to colored materials. The painter created rules on form, composition, perspective, light, color, motion, and proportion. Eventually the act of painting became a noble profession graduating from being a labor to a artist linked to the liberal arts disciplines like musical theory, dialectics, grammar, mathematics, rhetoric and philosophy. Artists experimented with raw materials and new processes in science, engineering, architecture and the visual arts. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci thought of themselves as men of ideas, rather than a mere manipulator of materials. They were in the company of scholars and poets, the man of the world, self controlled, polished solitary geniuses. Artists were originators of thought and their work was not judged by fixed standards of craftsmanship but rather the quality of their concepts.

Paintings during the classical period dried slowly and artist's painted on easels in a studio. The work represents a realistic snapshot of the world depicting light, figures and illusionary space. In the 19 ^th century, artists moved outside, bought manufactured materials and continued to modify painting techniques by painting thickly wet into wet. By the 20^th century, the new painter examined past traditions and salvaged what was usable in an abstract sense. Artists now questioned painting as relevant and intuitively mix multiple mediums in an attempt to change media saturated images.