Water symbols in painting

Water is a hard element to paint.  Its finest state is clear and nearly as invisible as air.  Since it is central to the lives and activities of all living creatures, primitive artists needed a way to indicate the presence of water.

Water in Egyptian art

Even as far back as ancient Egypt, artists used symbols to show rivers, lakes and oceans.  The hieroglyphic for water was a zigzag line that stood for choppy waves.  Even if the line was placed vertically in the picture, the viewer knew what the artist meant.  To show a large body of water, the artist simply added more zigzag lines.  Ancient Egyptians also used the color green to symbolize water, which may be an indication that they didn't know much about disease prevention and drinking water care.

Medieval water symbols

By the middle ages, artists were using black wavy lines to show water.  Tapestries from that era show boats buoyed up by a series of black waves and circles.

Modern depictions of water

As paints and painting techniques improved, artists no longer had to ask people to believe that a stiff figure holding a pole and looking at a vertical zigzag line is fishing.  However, ancient symbols haven't gone away. They have been adopted by commercial artists looking for interesting art for water bottle labels.

Water symbols on bottle labels

Most water bottle labels are blue, hopefully meaning that a water analysis has shown that the product is purer than what ancient Egyptians drank.  Some artists do put a choppy line on their bottles as a nod to the ancient hieroglyphic symbol.  Many modern water brands, though, use the choppy line to indicate mountains and wavy lines to indicate pools, since their customers are interested in the sources of water contained in the bottle.

Water symbols are still important in art.  Just look at any water bottle label.  Somewhere in the color or lines ancient symbols are still in use.