A collage, a versatile form of visual art, allows for the combination of different visual elements to create a unique picture that conveys a relevant message or idea. It's a medium that inspires artists to weave together a tapestry of textures, meanings, and colours, sparking creativity and innovation. The rich diversity of styles and approaches within the realm of collage offers endless possibilities for artistic expression.
The term "collage" is derived from the French word Coller, which means "to glue." It incorporates different pictures(cut from newspaper clippings or print advertisements) or even different objects or materials like wood, fabric, ephemera, or photographs gathered from various sources.
Collage fixes the images( or objects) to the surface of another work of art or canvas to create a single image. There are many subgenres of collage, which include fabric collage, photomontage, and decoupage. Modern technology can be used to create digital collage art or eColllage on computers using photo-editing programs.
What Is a Collage? 4 Types of Collages in Art – 2025
Collage is a technique used to create a work of art by assembling different pieces of photographs, paper, fabric, and other items that can be arranged in a pattern into a new finished work of art. The term collage is used to describe the pasting of paper cutouts onto various surfaces.
The process of creating a collage involves selecting the materials, arranging them in a visually appealing manner, and then fixing them to a surface. This can be done using glue, tape, or other adhesives.
Collage art, with its rich history, has played a significant role in the art world. It has been a favourite art form for Cubists, Dadaists, and Pop artists, and continues to evolve with modern-day digital collage strategies. By understanding its historical significance, we can feel a deeper connection to the art form and its evolution.
Types of Collage Art –
Papier collé. – It is a French word used for “paper cutout”, “pasted paper”, or "paper collage," which is a collaging technique in which printed or decorated paper is applied to the surface of the canvas to get a new image. Such collages include the work of Picasso, Braque, and Spanish painter Juan Gris.
Découpage - It is a 17th-century form of furniture decoration technique. The French word découper means “cut out.” It is created from coloured paper cutouts, and the layering of cutouts can be used to create an image. For example, see Blue Nude II (1952) by Henri Matisse.
Photomontage- Photomontage is a specialised form of collage primarily focused on manipulating and recombining photographic elements, where the artists assemble photographs and photographic fragments to build a new, surreal, stirring composition. Some of the famous artists in photomontage were Hannah Hoch and John Heartfield.
Collages created by cutting and glueing photographs get photomontage images that are frequently photographed to create a seamless element to the photo collage. In contrast, digital image editing provides multiple styles to push the boundaries of the narratives through fragmentary imagery and photo editing. Photomontage can be digital or analogue. It can be based on themes such as politics, social commentary and others.
Assemblage—Assemblage is a technique based on three-dimensional images created by adding found objects to a flat surface. It is a form of visual art related to collage. Twentieth-century assemblage artists Pablo Picasso used metal scraps, and Robert Rauschenberg used a mixed-media approach to create reliefs (e.g., a sculpture technique where the background appears raised).
Collage Art Ideas
Most people assume you need newspaper and magazine cutouts to create collage art, but it goes beyond paper.
Objects and techniques used in collage art -
- Textiles: One can try scraps of fabric, crochet doilies to add texture and lace trims.
- Ephemera: Collectables like old book pages or postcards can make a vintage collage.
- Flowers and leaves – Flowers and leaves pressed and glued in a specific pattern can give a unique look.
- Repurpose objects—Buttons, broken jewellery, and bits of string can be used to create works of art.
- Paints and Markers – Painted elements can be used to create a simple collage into a mixed-media masterpiece.
Some collage art ideas are mentioned below –
Telling a story with collage art: It involves careful use of colours, shadows, and highlights that can be used to tell a story.
Face collage—Different elements and materials are used to create a face collage. You can replace facial features with objects, or if you have a photo of a door or window, you can draw mountains or anything else behind the openings.
- Altered photo collage: An altered photo collage is when you take a photo and change it by adding things to it. It can also be a magazine image, not only printed photos.
- Mixed-media collages: You can use acrylic paint, crayons, watercolours, relief paste, markers, pens, or stamps.
- Surrealism/unrealistic- Weird-looking faces with different elements, such as one head of a fish's body, can be used to create surrealistic collages.
- Abstract collages - For instance, you can use eyes in a completely different way. If you want to create abstract collage art, focus on shapes, objects, and lines rather than people, faces, etc.
- Putting things where they do not belong—For instance, putting a woman's swimming cap behind a girl’s head.
- Minimalistic Collage with Women Figures: It involves creating artwork in which women appear mystical.
Paper Collage Art
Collage art can be created by combining and remixing images from books and magazines in a creative style, or it can be created using differently coloured or textured paper cut into shapes to create scenery or abstract images.
The scraps, according to the colour scheme, cannot go wrong. We need to prepare the paper scraps by tearing them for a better texture and a vintage vibe, or we can cut them with scissors for a sleek, cleaner, modern look.
One can pick papers with different thicknesses and surfaces to create interesting textures by combining them.
You can create different geometrical shapes into mini collages if you are starting.
Many other common themes, such as traced silhouettes, can be created by using a magazine image and tracing it into a shape.
Collage Art Examples
Some of the famous Collage art examples are –
- Traditional Collage – Traditionally, painting and sculpture were combined to get assemblage and collage. Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso created paintings that combined real-world objects and images. It incorporated printed wallpaper pieces into the paintings.
- Marcel Duchamp used three-dimensional, mixed-media Assemblages; he termed them readymades, which were made from mass-produced objects and junk.
- Collage remained a constant through Dada, Surrealism, and Pop Art. Neo-Dadaists Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Allan Kaprow used collage to challenge artistic conventions.
- Duchamp’s ready-made works were precursors to Assemblage, and his Fountain (1917) remains one of the most recognised examples today. Artists like Betye Saar combined objects to address themes of race and spirituality, while Anselm Kiefer used it to explore history and memory. Materials like straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac were used, and the work, Unknown Painter (1983), set a worldwide record when it sold for $3,554K at Christie’s in May 2011.
- Self-Portrait Collage art—The album covers from the Digital collage series “Musique Surrealism” are the artist’s favourites. According to the artist, the fine art painting is made using a marker, white construction paper, a glue stick, a wee bit of white paint for the teeth, and numerous magazines.
- Collage Art of famous personalities—For instance, the Graffiti Artwork of Russian President “Putin.”
- Marilyn Collage Canvas—The Collage Canvas of American actress Marilyn Monroe is made with simple materials and is an easy example to create.
- Geometrical or digital patterns in a collage – It provides unlimited possibilities for you to express yourself.
Easy Collage Art
One can create some of the simplest collage art using the following techniques –
- Replacing or revealing involves cutting/tearing away a part of an image and replacing it with something else to reveal the image beneath.
- Cutting up images and combining the pieces to assemble new shapes.
- Layering strips by cutting up multiple images into strips and then assembling them into a jumbled lattice pattern.
- To add a new dimension to an image, one can doodle, draw, paint or use materials, from glue to tape to paper, to add texture and dimension.
Some of the easy collage art examples are –
- Paper Tree collage—This collage is made using a hole punch and watercolours. Punch holes in the paper, add fruits to the tree, and stick them to the branches. You can also change the colour of the paper to paste different fruits into the trees.
- Greeting card collage—One can use various designs on greeting cards or flower designs and add a pop of colour to create a pattern.
- Collage Jar—You can make a 3d collage by adding frames to a pickle jar or cutting paper or cardboard to layer with garlic pickles or flowers.
Top 5 Famous Collage Artists
1- Pablo Picasso was one of the pioneers of Collage Art. Collaging is a form of modern art that began in the early twentieth century when Cubist artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque began glueing material—pieces of paper, fabric, even objects—to canvases. He was born in 1881 in Malanga, Spain, and was a true modernist and innovator.
Picasso’s Still Life with Chair Caning, Spring from 1912, is seen as the earliest form of collage art where he incorporated a printed oilcloth and an actual rope into the 2-D surface.
2- Born in 1882, Georges Braque was a Parisian painter from the 20th century. He was well known for being the founder of Cubism alongside the famous artist Pablo Picasso. He worked on Impressionism, Fauvism, and collage styles of work that brought together a series of imaginative pieces, distinct shapes, styles, and bold colours.
Unlike other Fauvist painters, Braque paid attention not only to the position of the colour elements on the plane of the picture but also to building space. Braque’s Fruit Dish and Glass (1912) was a famous work of art. In the pioneering work of collage, Braque combined faux-wood wallpaper with a Cubist depiction of a fruit dish and glass.
The intersecting planes of the drawing and the collage elements enhance the notion of perspective space, while you still have a tabletop and a door to suggest it is a café. The example of papier collé made use of bits of paper instead of found images, while staying in Provence after discovering a roll of wood-grain wallpaper in a shop window. Braque's papier collé became foundational for the proliferation of the collage technique.
3- Many artists created collage art during the Dada art movement. Hannah Hoch was famous for creating collages from newspaper clippings. The work shows the racist and sexist codes of the time. Hannah glued photographs and ads cut out of magazines for her photomontage in “Cut with a Kitchen Knife.” The work shows ideals and synthetic techniques.
4- German artist Kurt Schwitters utilised the form in his wood collages. Kurt Schwitters created montages, collages, and assemblages and developed the concept of Merz – ‘the amalgamation, for artistic purposes of all conceivable materials’. Schwitters was not based in Berlin, but he worked until the Nazis exiled him from Germany.
5- The American artist Man Ray contributed to avant-garde, fashion and portrait photography. Ray’s photomontages play with femininity and form, as in his multiple exposures of Alice Prin, known as Kiki de Montparnasse and Dora Maar.
Collage Painting
Collage art is inspired by cutting up and layering paper, fabrics, wood, and other surfaces. Collage painting is the term that, according to Carole Bleistein, “is made with paper and other mixed media that is 80% glued and collaged onto a substrate.”
The statement alone does not distinguish collage painting from another type of collage, but Bleistein makes an important distinction: “It represents a compositional whole.” There are many types of collage paintings where elements other than paper, such as paints, pastels, or inks, can be used to create unique art.
Mixed media collage art
Collage art is made from individual pieces assembled into a new autonomous artwork with a 2-dimensional character. The three–dimensional version of collage art is called Assemblage, where the artist creates a sculpture through assemblage instead of painting or working on paper.
Collage artists can implement three-dimensional objects onto two-dimensional surfaces, and assemblage can be fluid. The art is made by making a bunch, cutting shapes, playing with colours, layering, and getting a unique design.
The advent of digital technology has revolutionised collage art. Digital Collage allows artists to manipulate and combine images in ways that were previously impossible. Artists like Eugenia Loli have embraced digital collage to create surreal, thought-provoking works that blend vintage images with modern elements.
Collage Definition in Art
According to Merriam-Webster, a collage is an artistic composition made of various materials such as cloth, paper, or wood fixed on a surface. In a general work of art, the artist is drawing or painting the images in the art themselves, whereas, in collages, they can create a remix of various types of artwork, curating and arranging the pictures or materials to create something new.
There are many other ways to define collage. It is a technique where incompatible artwork or objects, photographs, and magazines are glued together to create a finished scene. Collage includes painting, drawing, and even three-dimensional elements.
Pop Art Collage
Pop artists use a virtual representation of popular consumer culture, incorporating various elements, such as advertisements, brand logos, comic strips, and much more, to celebrate and critique the proliferation of mass media.
Calligraphers in Japan used the technique when crafting poetry. In the mid-twentieth century, art collage was a major influence on the Pop art movement, first through the playful work of British artist Richard Hamilton and later at a 1962 exhibit at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York that showed works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
Andy Warhol is a celebrated Pop Art creator. He is famous for his portrayals of consumer products and celebrities. His Campbell’s Soup Cans are iconic examples of Pop Art; though not collages, they embody the movement’s ethos.
Richard Hamilton is credited with producing the earliest pieces of Pop Art. For instance, “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?” (1956) is a satirical take on consumer culture.
Roy Lichtenstein’s comic book-style collages, such as “Whaam!” (1963), became synonymous with the movement.
Tom Wesselmann’s “Still Life” series uses collage to create vibrant and provocative commentaries on American consumer culture. Today, collage artists employ both the traditional method of cut-and-paste and modern means like digital software to further the art form and create new works.
Collage Art for Kids
- The simplest collage art for kids can be created with paper. It involves cutting coloured construction paper into shapes and glueing it together.
- Black-and-white collages can be created with black-and-white paper. It is a simple way of creating artwork suitable for kids.
- Monochrome painting is a perfect option for kids of all ages. You paint a piece of cardboard with a favourite colour, and then you can make a collage using different types of materials.
- One can create colourful painted paper collage art with warm and cool colours on paper, which can turn into colourful collage art for kids, as inspired by Alma Thomas or create Pablo Picasso collages from colourful cut paper shapes and glue.
- You can create marble paper art landscape collages inspired by Australian artist Kate Shaw, or a mixed media collage from recycled material, or use stickers or colourful cardboard to get distinctive collages.
Paper Collage Art Ideas
A range of materials and paper types can be used to create a collage, including magazines, tissue paper, wrapping paper, wallpaper, and other handmade art papers. Textured, coloured, and interestingly surfaced materials such as corrugated, foil, fabrics, and mixed-material sheets can also be used for collages.
Paper cuttings can be combined into unusual objects, text, headlines, ads, various colour combinations, and other patterns. Some of the paper collage art ideas are based on using–
- Single letters
- Words
- Sentences
- Photos of people/objects
- Colourful pages, those cut into shapes or text pages and details
How Is Collage Unique from Other Forms of Art?
Collage inherently encourages experimentation with different materials. Artists have the freedom to select any material. A collage can be made on canvas, a journal page, a postcard, an index card, or a playing card. Collage has evolved to embrace an array of materials and mediums that include –
- Old Pictures from books, magazines and novels
- Photos from Newspapers and Flyers, old Wrapping Paper or a calendar
- Paper Scraps/ Cardboard/ Greeting Cards
- Aesthetic Product Packaging
- Tissue Paper
- Travel Receipts /Tickets
- Unique currency and Tape (like Washi Tape)
- Metallic Foil and much more.
Which Artist Made the Concept of Collage into A Form of Art In 1912?
The modern art form of Collage started in the early 20th century when renowned artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque began glueing materials like pieces, fabric, and objects to make canvases and other surfaces. Picasso created collages throughout his career, as seen in his Maquette for the cover of the journal Minotaure (1933).
Many types of mixed media collage art can be found. In 1912, Picasso created a Cubist collage, "Still Life with Chair Caning," which depicts a multi-faceted view of a café table, chair, and various items - a knife, a napkin, part of a piece of fruit, and a wine glass. Instead of painting these, Picasso attached a piece of oilcloth to the canvas with a pattern of chair caning to suggest it was a chair.
And he used a length of rope to frame the canvas, signifying a playful take on a table's customary carved edge. In the same year, Braques’ Fruit-Dish & Glass both were a form of ‘Papier-Colle’ (a kind of collage technique under which paper usually adheres to the flat mount) with the patterned wallpaper beautifully glued to the canvas.
It was at this time that the Dada art movement embraced collage art, which is seen in Hannah Hoch's works. She created a photo montage, "Cut-with-a-Kitchen-Knife," and designed a photo collage. The German artist Kurt-Schwitters created wood collages, and the Surrealist artist Joseph Cornell adopted collage techniques in his creations with dream-like pictures just before World War II.
How To Make Collage Art?
The steps to make collage art are given below -
- Collect materials (magazines, wrapping paper, old books, etc.) alongside paper, glue, and scissors.
- Start cutting/tearing out images that you want to use
- Lay out the collage
- Paste cutouts and other media onto a sturdy piece of paper or blank canvas.
- Continue layering
- You can draw or trace additional shapes, designs and text.
Who Invented Collage Art?
The term "collage" was coined around 1910 by the two pioneers of the Cubist movement, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Picasso used an oilcloth printed with a chair caning pattern and a piece of rope, and it signalled a dramatic change away from the traditional confinements of fine art practice towards the blurring of art and everyday culture.
It was the time when Braque and Picasso started experimenting with assorted materials such as printed oilcloth, patterned paper and newspaper cutouts. The technique used to create the art included pasting elements onto a flat surface to evoke multiple dimensionality and explore the fragmentation and destruction of objects.
