A language to analyze, describe, and explore collections of visual art.

A vast quantity of art in existence today is inaccessible to individuals. If people want to know the different types of art that exist, how individual works are connected, and how works of art are interpreted and discussed in the context of other works, they must utilize means other than simply viewing the art. Therefore, this paper proposes a language to analyze, describe, and explore collections of visual art (LadeCA). LadeCA combines human interpretation and automatic analyses of images, allowing users to assess collections of visual art without viewing every image in them. This paper focuses on the lexical base of LadeCA. It also outlines how collections of visual art can be analyzed, described, and explored using a LadeCA vocabulary. Additionally, the relationship between LadeCA and indexing systems, such as ICONCLASS or AAT, is demonstrated, and ways in which LadeCA and indexing systems can complement each other are highlighted. Video abstract.