What does iconography mean?
Iconography is the study of visual images and symbols and the meanings associated with them. The term is especially common in art history, religious studies, archaeology, and cultural analysis, where scholars examine recurring subjects, attributes, gestures, colors, and objects. An iconography can also mean a particular system or collection of such visual motifs, as in the distinctive imagery associated with a religion, political movement, artist, or period. The word suggests interpretation rather than simple description: identifying a cross, halo, crown, or particular animal is only the starting point, because iconography asks what those elements signify and how their meanings have changed across contexts. Because symbols often carry several meanings at once, iconographic study attends to historical, cultural, religious, and social circumstances. The term is useful whenever an image must be read not merely for what it depicts, but for what its conventions communicate to its intended audience.
nounThe study of images and symbols, especially the identification and interpretation of their symbolic meanings. By extension, it refers to a particular collection or system of visual symbols, images, and motifs.
- The study and interpretation of images or symbols, especially in art, religion, or culture.
- A particular system, collection, or tradition of visual symbols, images, and motifs.
"The exhibition guide explains the religious iconography of the medieval frescoes without reducing them to a single symbolic meaning."
"A guide to the manuscript describes the iconography of the halo and the symbols used to identify each saint."
"The designer drew on the iconography of protest posters to create a campaign that felt instantly recognizable."
The plural is used for distinct systems of visual imagery or separate scholarly traditions of interpretation; singular is more common in general use.
"The exhibition brings together the iconographies of Byzantine, Renaissance, and modern religious art."
Iconography turns what you see into a question: what does this image mean, and who taught us to read it?
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does iconography come from?
Iconography comes from the Greek compound eikonographia, built from eikōn, meaning “image” or “likeness,” and -graphia, meaning “writing,” “description,” or “study.” The word entered English with a scholarly application to the description and interpretation of images and symbols. Its Greek root also underlies cognates and related words such as icon, iconic, iconoclast, and iconology.
Related word forms
How iconography is actually used
Iconography is a formal and often academic term. It is used most frequently in art history, religious studies, archaeology, cultural analysis, and the study of visual design.
Easily confused with iconography
Iconography primarily concerns images and visual symbols, whereas iconology more broadly concerns the study of symbols and their cultural, religious, or philosophical significance.