Describe a work of art that you remember seeing.
A card about a painting, sculpture, mural, installation or a single photograph in an exhibition. You do not need the artist's name or technical art vocabulary — clear description and an honest reaction matter far more.
The task card
Describe a work of art that you remember seeing.
You should say:
- what the work of art was
- where you saw it
- what it looks like
and explain why you remember it so well.
Now say it yourself
Record your own two minutes on this card and have it transcribed and marked against the Speaking criteria. Practising is free; the band estimate is part of Pro.
Record my answerHow long you have
- 1 minute
Preparation
The examiner hands you the card, paper and a pencil. Make notes — a few words per cue point, never sentences.
- 1–2 minutes
Your long turn
Speak until the examiner stops you at two minutes. Finishing early is the most common self-inflicted problem in Part 2.
- 1–2 questions
Rounding off
The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions, then moves straight into the Part 3 discussion on the same theme.
Part 2 takes three to four minutes in total. The whole Speaking test runs 11 to 14 minutes across three parts, and Part 3 that follows lasts four to five minutes.
How to approach this card
Choose something you can describe from memory with your eyes closed. A mural on a wall you passed every day may serve you better than a famous painting you saw once for thirty seconds behind a crowd.
Describe it in an order the listener can follow: overall size and subject first, then colours and materials, then one detail you noticed up close. Spatial language — 'in the foreground', 'along the bottom edge', 'towards the centre' — is exactly what this bullet tests.
For the final bullet, explain the effect rather than the quality. 'It was beautiful' is not a reason; 'it made a place I knew look completely different' or 'I couldn't work out how it was made' is.
If you know little about art, say so. A candidate who admits 'I'm not really a gallery person' and then explains why one piece reached them sounds far more natural than one performing expertise.
Model answer
Speak your own answer first. Examiners are trained to spot memorised speeches and mark them down — use this to study structure, pacing and naturalness, never to recite.
Show the model answer
I'm not really a gallery person, so the work of art I want to describe isn't in a museum — it's an installation that hangs in the entrance hall of our new central library, and I first saw it when the building opened about two years ago. The library was built where three old tower blocks used to stand, and before they were demolished, the artist asked the people who'd lived there to donate their old front-door keys. She collected something like two thousand of them, and they hang on very fine wires from the ceiling, three storeys up. What does it look like? From the entrance, honestly, it looks like a cloud — or maybe a flock of birds turning — this big shimmering shape in the middle of the space. It's only when you go up the stairs and get close that you realise it's made of ordinary keys, all slightly different: brass ones, silver ones, a few with cheap plastic key rings still attached. And each one has a little paper tag with a flat number and the years someone lived there — 'fourteenth floor, 1971 to 2009', that kind of thing. Why has it stayed with me? Partly the surprise of it, that moment when a cloud turns into keys. But mostly because my aunt lived in one of those blocks for twenty years, and her key is in there somewhere. I've never found it, and I've stopped looking, because I think that's the point — it isn't about one family, it's about everyone who had a home there. And there's one more detail I love: when the main doors open on a windy day, the whole thing moves slightly and you can hear it, this faint chiming, almost like the building remembering.
Why this works: The description moves the way a visitor's eye would — from a distance, then close up — so spatial and descriptive language arrives naturally rather than as a list. Admitting 'I'm not really a gallery person' sets an honest tone, and the final bullet gives a personal link (the aunt's key) without overplaying it. Ending on a sensory detail rather than a summary keeps it sounding spoken. Take the far-to-near technique, not the wording.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- in the foreground / in the background
Essential spatial phrases for describing any picture.
- a mural
A large painting made directly on a wall, often outdoors.
- an installation
An artwork arranged in a space that you walk around or through.
- striking
Noticeable and impressive; a precise alternative to 'beautiful'.
- to take in the detail
To look carefully and absorb everything you can see.
- from a distance … up close
A simple frame for describing how a work changes as you approach it.
- it left a lasting impression
Standard phrase for something you still remember clearly.
Part 3 discussion
After your long turn the examiner moves into a four to five minute discussion on the same theme, working from two related discussion topics with about three questions each. The first stays close to your own experience; the second widens out. Answer with reasons and examples, not one-line replies.
- 1Why do governments spend public money on art?
- 2Should museums and galleries be free to enter?
- 3Is street art a form of art or a kind of vandalism?
- 4How important is it for children to draw and paint at school?
- 5Can art made with the help of computers be as valuable as art made by hand?
- 6Why do some people feel that galleries are not meant for them?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Media, technology and culture. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.