1. a painting technique in which paint is laid on thickly so that brush or palette knife marks are visible
Usage: art
2. the thick application of paint itself or the paint so applied
Usage: art

Examples

• Van Gogh’s paintings are famous for their heavy impasto technique.
• The artist used impasto to create texture in the flower petals.
• You can see the brush strokes clearly in areas where she applied impasto.
• The thick impasto gave the painting a three-dimensional quality.
• He built up layers of impasto to capture the rough bark of the tree.
• The impasto technique allows artists to create dramatic light effects.