Which artistic technique involves painting on wet plaster to create a mural?

The technique that involves painting on wet plaster to create a mural is fresco. This method is significant in the history of art, particularly during the Renaissance, where artists created vibrant wall paintings by applying water-based pigments directly onto freshly laid plaster. As the plaster dries, it bonds with the paint, ensuring the durability of the artwork and allowing colors to remain vivid over time.

Frescoes were often used in church settings or public buildings, highlighting narrative stories or religious themes. Notable examples include Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling and Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel. This technique differs fundamentally from other options, such as tempera, which is a paint composed of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder; oil painting, which uses oil as a medium for pigments; and acrylics, which utilize synthetic resins. Each of these methods has its own unique properties and applications, but fresco specifically requires that the painting occurs on wet plaster, making it a unique and historically important art form.