contrapposto

English

WOTD – 15 April 2026

Michelangelo’s statue David (1501–1504) is a famous example of contrapposto—the figure’s shoulders are tilted such that the left shoulder is higher than the right, while the pelvis is tilted in the opposite direction, with the left hip lower than the right.

A diagram illustrating contrapposto in Lysippos’s statue of an apoxyomenos (c. 330 B.C.E.) in the collection of the Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican City. The tilt of the statue’s shoulders is opposite to that of its hips.

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian contrapposto (“contrasting; opposing”, adjective), the past participle of contrapporre (“to set against, counter”), from Latin contrāpōnere, the present active infinitive of contrāpōnō (“to oppose; to place opposite”), from contrā (“against; contrary to”) + pōnō (“to place, put”).

The plural form contrapposti is borrowed from Italian contrapposti, the masculine plural form of contrapposto.

Pronunciation

• Singular:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɹəˈpɒstəʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑntɹəˈpɑstoʊ/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: con‧trap‧pos‧to
• Plural (contrapposti):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒntɹəˈpɒsti/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑntɹəˈpɑsti/
  • Hyphenation: con‧trap‧pos‧ti

Noun

contrapposto (countable and uncountable, plural contrapposto or contrappostos or contrapposti)

1. (art, especially sculpture, uncountable) The position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; (countable) an instance of this. [from 20th c.]
   • 1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadance from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson‎^[1], London; New Haven, Conn.: Yale Nota Bene, Yale University Press, published 2001, →ISBN:

     The Archaic kouros was always callipygian, the large buttocks more stressed and valued than the face. But the buttocks of the Kritios Boy have a feminine refinement, as erotic as breasts in Venetian painting. The contrapposto flexes one buttock and relaxes the other. The artist imagines them as apple and pear, glowing and compact.

   • 1999, James Elkins, “Psychomachia”, in Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphosis, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, part 1, page 87:

     The difference can be seen in the two competition reliefs for the doors of the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi […]: Ghiberti (right) offers a relaxed demonstration of his skill, close to the dancing definition of contrapposto, whereas Brunelleschi (left) proffers several tautly knotted contrapposti.

   • 2002, Sean Shesgreen, “Broadsheet Cries and British Commerce”, in Images of the Outcast: The Urban Poor in the Cries of London, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 36, column 1:

     The hawkers' athletic contrappostos, intellectual and imaginary rather than plausible, speak of the mind's superiority to the body.

   • 2022, Sarah Lepinski, Vanessa Rousseau, “Iconography and Imagery between Rome and the Provinces: A Case Study in Domestic Décor”, in Lea K. Cline, Nathan T. Elkins, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Imagery and Iconography, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, part II (Image and Semantics), page 203:

     Yes, the difference between the expressive faces and baroque contrappostos of the figures on the Antonine panels and the squat, awkward bodies of the Constantinian frieze is interesting to note, but neither era's relief panels on the Arch are wholly indicative of the visual culture of their respective moments.

Related terms

• contrapose
• contraposition

Translations

position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; an instance of this

• Arabic: وضعية التعارض ?
• Armenian: կոնտրապոստ (hy) (kontrapost)
• Basque: contrapposto ?
• Belarusian: кантрапост (kantrapóst)
• Bulgarian: контрапо́ст m (kontrapóst)
• Catalan: contrapposto ?
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 對立式平衡 / 对立式平衡 (duìlìshìpínghéng)

• Czech: kontrapost ?
• Danish: contrapposto ?
• Dutch: contrapposto ?
• Finnish: kontraposto
• French: contrapposto (fr) m
• Galician: contrapposto ?
• Georgian: კონტრაპოსტი (ḳonṭraṗosṭi)
• German: Kontrapost (de) m
• Greek: κοντραπόστο (el) n (kontrapósto)
• Hebrew: קונטרה פוסטו ?
• Hungarian: kontraposzt
• Italian: contrapposto (it) m
• Japanese: コントラポスト (kontoraposuto)
• Korean: 콘트라포스토 (konteuraposeuto)
• Kyrgyz: контрапост (kontrapost)
• Malay: contrapposto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kontrapost ?

  Nynorsk: please add this translation if you can

• Persian: کج‌ایستایی
• Polish: kontrapost (pl) m
• Portuguese: contrapposto ?
• Romanian: contrapposto ?
• Russian: контрапо́ст (ru) m (kontrapóst)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̏нтрапост m

  Latin: kȍntrapost (sh) m

• Slovene: kontrapost ?
• Spanish: contrapposto ?
• Swedish: kontrapost ?
• Ukrainian: контрапост ? (kontrapost)
• Uzbek: kontrapost

Further reading

• contrapposto on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

From contra- +‎ posto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kon.trapˈpos.to/, /kon.trapˈpɔs.to/
• Rhymes: -osto, -ɔsto
• Hyphenation: con‧trap‧pó‧sto, con‧trap‧pò‧sto

Participle

contrapposto (feminine contrapposta, masculine plural contrapposti, feminine plural contrapposte)

1. past participle of contrapporre

Adjective

contrapposto (feminine contrapposta, masculine plural contrapposti, feminine plural contrapposte)

1. contrasting
2. opposing, opposed

Descendants

• → English: contrapposto
• → German: Kontrapost