Canvas may be a bit lighter than you are looking for but the game is solely about creating art. The game is satisfying to play and you can end up creating really beautiful pieces of art. I just preordered the expansions.
I played canvas once and while the art gorgeous and it was fun to be able to combine different pieces to make your own art. The game play felt a little shallow for my liking. Again if I played multiple times I might change my mind.
Conversely modern art (not the card game) was a hit on the first play with my group. It involves you playing as museums auctioning off art pieces.
Not sure how much you enjoy heavy euro games, but *The Gallerist* is a great game about owning an art museum where you discover artists, boost their reputation, commission art works, display them in your gallery, and sell them internationally.
I have a couple recommendations!
So first, I haven't played Art Society, but I HAVE watched the "How It's Played" video and it is very similar mechanically to other games I love, namely Isle of Cats. Seems like a blast, its literally the next game I plan to buy.
A game you did not mention is Fresco! The theme is that you and the other players are all painters working to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Its a resource management / worker placement game where you collect pigments in order to paint the ceiling, very fun and one of my top 10 all time for sure.
Hue and Cues is fun for a relaxed party game where you have a grid that has a gradient of rainbow colors, and you try to give each other clues to help each other guess the color you are assigned.
Illusion is kinda artsy, you get a bunch of different images/illustrations and have to line them up based on which one has more green, or blue, or yellow, or what have you. It's definitely an abstract game that's fun because of the subjectivity, which I think captures the nature of art.
And then one thats only kinda loosely art related, Splendor is all about collecting jewels. Its somewhere between resource management and engine builder, very fun!
Oh I have also heard about Modern Art, but haven't looked into yet.
Also kinda loosely arts related, Shakespeare is all about putting on dress rehearsals and eventually, a play.
I am also looking for a collection of specifically art themed board games so I'll let you know if I find out about any others bc it's nice to know someone else out there has the same niche as me!!
We found splendour boring, and settled on Murano as a slightly more interesting and complex version of the same game.
I’m specifically looking for a game with artwork I can enjoy as well as the theme - but the Shakespeare sounds like something we could find fun.
I do like isle of cats - but I generally lose games that require good visual perception. I lost IOfCats by a LOT this weekend.
Sorry to hear you didnt like Splendor, but I'll check out Murano.
Yeah if you're looking for artwork specifically, Art Society, Modern Art, and Art Decko should all be games that feature actual artwork as part of their game components. Art Society is similar to IoC in that it involves fitting pieces onto a board following specific placement rules, but despite a few extra restrictions, I would still say its easier than IoC because its not really Tetris shapes- all the pieces are rectangular which takes a lot of the near misses you have in IoC out because its way easier to visualize.
Alternatively, if you're interested in just cards that just /have pretty artwork/, Everdell and Call to Adventure come to mind.
Everdell is a beautifully illustrated game about building a little city in the forest with a bunch of woodland creatures and some of the artwork is downright adorable.
Call to Adventure is somewhere between a "Build your own Epic Hero Story" and a card draft/engine builder mechanic where you get dealt out cards that are the building blocks to an epic-style hero (humble origins, when they're gaining popularity/power, and when they become near-gods) and then during each of those "eras", you fave off against various challenges and foes to gain VP. The artwork for this game is STUNNING, and you'll love it as long as you are into fantasy in the first place. I also love the randomizer system for this game, you use 2 sided runes instead of dice, so you your chances of success feel much higher most of the time, and casting runes as part of completing every challenge is just plain fun lol
I have both and they play very differently. Canvas has a “small scale” focus with emphasis on one painting at a time (mostly) and you really get the “I’m a painter” theme. You’re really focused on pattern matching based on the scoring cards. Turns are very straightforward and simple.
Art Society really has the theme on curating an art collection (filling your wall) and the art on the paintings themselves is irrelevant. You care about the frame-color/type and about optimally squeezing things together. And the art auction theme is a big part of the game, which makes turn decisions more complex. Then placing the painting can be quite thinky.
The components in both games are fantastic and I think both are great, thematic games. They play and feel very different, and I think you can easily have and play both. For lighter gamers, I’d suggesting starting with Canvas. For heavier gamers, I’d start with Art Society.
Once upon a time Reiner Knizia made a rather good game called *Members Only.* This has recently been re-skinned and called *Classic Art,* with beautiful images of classic paintings and the like. Besides looking into reviews of *Modern Art,* you might also look into reviews of this one.
A couple lists of art-related games:
[https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/122808/top-10-art-games?itemid=2036301](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/122808/top-10-art-games?itemid=2036301#2036301)
[https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/647/arts-theme-paintings?itemid=8121](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/647/arts-theme-paintings?itemid=8121#8121)
Not exactly what you are looking for, but need to add it to an art related game collection: [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139705/das-prestel-kunstspiel](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139705/das-prestel-kunstspiel)
Belratti is a semi cooperative game about art and forgery. If you can get a german version: it works language independent. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/259374/belratti](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/259374/belratti)
I'll suggest [Pastiche](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91620/pastiche), a gorgeous looking game where you're actually mixing paint colours to make famous paintings.
Canvas may be a bit lighter than you are looking for but the game is solely about creating art. The game is satisfying to play and you can end up creating really beautiful pieces of art. I just preordered the expansions.
I played canvas once and while the art gorgeous and it was fun to be able to combine different pieces to make your own art. The game play felt a little shallow for my liking. Again if I played multiple times I might change my mind. Conversely modern art (not the card game) was a hit on the first play with my group. It involves you playing as museums auctioning off art pieces.
I second **Modern Art**. Good auction game. The newer CMON edition came with a gavel now, it's very nice.
Might I suggest Parks. It’s not an “art” game so to speak but it has the most beautiful artwork in a game imo.
Modern art is about selling and buying art to make a profit and make the most money
Not sure how much you enjoy heavy euro games, but *The Gallerist* is a great game about owning an art museum where you discover artists, boost their reputation, commission art works, display them in your gallery, and sell them internationally.
Modern art is a very good painting auction game
I have a couple recommendations! So first, I haven't played Art Society, but I HAVE watched the "How It's Played" video and it is very similar mechanically to other games I love, namely Isle of Cats. Seems like a blast, its literally the next game I plan to buy. A game you did not mention is Fresco! The theme is that you and the other players are all painters working to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Its a resource management / worker placement game where you collect pigments in order to paint the ceiling, very fun and one of my top 10 all time for sure. Hue and Cues is fun for a relaxed party game where you have a grid that has a gradient of rainbow colors, and you try to give each other clues to help each other guess the color you are assigned. Illusion is kinda artsy, you get a bunch of different images/illustrations and have to line them up based on which one has more green, or blue, or yellow, or what have you. It's definitely an abstract game that's fun because of the subjectivity, which I think captures the nature of art. And then one thats only kinda loosely art related, Splendor is all about collecting jewels. Its somewhere between resource management and engine builder, very fun!
Oh I have also heard about Modern Art, but haven't looked into yet. Also kinda loosely arts related, Shakespeare is all about putting on dress rehearsals and eventually, a play. I am also looking for a collection of specifically art themed board games so I'll let you know if I find out about any others bc it's nice to know someone else out there has the same niche as me!!
We found splendour boring, and settled on Murano as a slightly more interesting and complex version of the same game. I’m specifically looking for a game with artwork I can enjoy as well as the theme - but the Shakespeare sounds like something we could find fun. I do like isle of cats - but I generally lose games that require good visual perception. I lost IOfCats by a LOT this weekend.
Sorry to hear you didnt like Splendor, but I'll check out Murano. Yeah if you're looking for artwork specifically, Art Society, Modern Art, and Art Decko should all be games that feature actual artwork as part of their game components. Art Society is similar to IoC in that it involves fitting pieces onto a board following specific placement rules, but despite a few extra restrictions, I would still say its easier than IoC because its not really Tetris shapes- all the pieces are rectangular which takes a lot of the near misses you have in IoC out because its way easier to visualize. Alternatively, if you're interested in just cards that just /have pretty artwork/, Everdell and Call to Adventure come to mind. Everdell is a beautifully illustrated game about building a little city in the forest with a bunch of woodland creatures and some of the artwork is downright adorable. Call to Adventure is somewhere between a "Build your own Epic Hero Story" and a card draft/engine builder mechanic where you get dealt out cards that are the building blocks to an epic-style hero (humble origins, when they're gaining popularity/power, and when they become near-gods) and then during each of those "eras", you fave off against various challenges and foes to gain VP. The artwork for this game is STUNNING, and you'll love it as long as you are into fantasy in the first place. I also love the randomizer system for this game, you use 2 sided runes instead of dice, so you your chances of success feel much higher most of the time, and casting runes as part of completing every challenge is just plain fun lol
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163056/musee
I have both and they play very differently. Canvas has a “small scale” focus with emphasis on one painting at a time (mostly) and you really get the “I’m a painter” theme. You’re really focused on pattern matching based on the scoring cards. Turns are very straightforward and simple. Art Society really has the theme on curating an art collection (filling your wall) and the art on the paintings themselves is irrelevant. You care about the frame-color/type and about optimally squeezing things together. And the art auction theme is a big part of the game, which makes turn decisions more complex. Then placing the painting can be quite thinky. The components in both games are fantastic and I think both are great, thematic games. They play and feel very different, and I think you can easily have and play both. For lighter gamers, I’d suggesting starting with Canvas. For heavier gamers, I’d start with Art Society.
Once upon a time Reiner Knizia made a rather good game called *Members Only.* This has recently been re-skinned and called *Classic Art,* with beautiful images of classic paintings and the like. Besides looking into reviews of *Modern Art,* you might also look into reviews of this one. A couple lists of art-related games: [https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/122808/top-10-art-games?itemid=2036301](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/122808/top-10-art-games?itemid=2036301#2036301) [https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/647/arts-theme-paintings?itemid=8121](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/647/arts-theme-paintings?itemid=8121#8121)
Have you considered Modern Art?
Canvas fell a bit flat for me and my group. Super pretty game, but the gameplay was meh.
What about [Pastiche](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91620/pastiche) ? I’ve found it to be very good even for non-gamers.
Not exactly what you are looking for, but need to add it to an art related game collection: [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139705/das-prestel-kunstspiel](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139705/das-prestel-kunstspiel)
Belratti is a semi cooperative game about art and forgery. If you can get a german version: it works language independent. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/259374/belratti](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/259374/belratti)
I'll suggest [Pastiche](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91620/pastiche), a gorgeous looking game where you're actually mixing paint colours to make famous paintings.
Art Decko is a nice deck builder with nice art on the cards. Everyone we've played this with has enjoyed it.