Painted worlds with distinctive light, detail and solving patterns.
Paintings offer clues that photographs do not: brushwork, softened edges and deliberate bands of light. Look for distinctive figures, brushwork and changes in light to build small groups before joining the wider scene. The accompanying notes focus on what helps each image work as a puzzle.
A way to start
Start with the strongest changes in light rather than treating every painted detail as a separate object. Each card shows its piece count and default difficulty. Hard adds rotation; choose Easy before starting if you would rather concentrate on the picture with upright pieces. Artist, date and museum links remain with every artwork.
The image shows a young woman with braided hair wearing a white headscarf and a patterned black dress adorned with a bright, multicoloured belt and a small pendant necklace. She holds a white fan with red and intricate designs. Above her, there are clusters of light orange and white flowers among green leaves creating a natural frame. The background is richly green and softly blurred, providing contrast to the woman's detailed clothing and clear facial features.
Try this
Begin by assembling the bright white fan with its red patterns, then move to the white headscarf and the multicoloured belt below. The flowers and green leaves surrounding the top border offer a distinct area to piece together next.
This busy painting rewards close looking: riders, animals, trees and water form many small scenes within the larger landscape. It is a different kind of challenge from a photograph with one central subject.
Try this
Build a few distinctive riders or animals as separate groups. Use the pale water and dark woodland boundaries to place them, then return to the many similar green areas.
Albert Bierstadt (American, born Prussia [now Germany], 1830–1902). Mount Starr King, Yosemite, 1866. The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0
Light breaks through cloud above a quiet valley, with dark trees framing the foreground. The painting moves from detailed trunks and foliage to much softer mountain and sky shapes.
Try this
Start with the tree trunks and the boundary of the water. Keep bright cloud pieces together, but use changes in light and edge shape to place them after the valley is established.
Red clouds stretch across the upper picture above a glowing horizon and dark wooded slopes. The strong bands of colour provide a starting structure; the shadowed foreground asks for closer attention.
Try this
Follow the bright horizon first, then sort red cloud streaks by their direction. Use the right-hand tree silhouette as an anchor before filling the darker woodland.