What is the difference between "gemalt" and "angemalt"?

Question

How do the usage of these two words differ?

gemalt

and

angemalt

Google translate tells me that both mean 'painted'

Answer 1

The difference is in the role of the corresponding object.

Malen means that the grammatical object is also the object of the painting.

Ich male das Auto - I paint a picture of the car.

Anmalen means that the object is the surface of the painting.

Ich male das Auto an - I paint something on the car.

Answer 2

malen, malte, gemalt

There is a related question where I explained the difference between zeichnen, malen and färben. But anmalen was not mentioned in this answer

This is what I wrote about malen:

You use a brush, tip it into a colored liquid and then you use the color-soaked brush to applicate the color onto a more or less stabile surface. (You can not paint a picture on the hair of a woman.) You fill areas when you are painting, those areas build a pattern that will be interpreted as a picture. If you want to get thin lines, you have to use a thin brush. The suface on which you applicate the color can be smooth or also rough (like stone, or a wall made of bricks). The result is called »Gemälde« (painting) or often just »Bild« (picture). A typical Gemälde is not monochrome, typically you will see lots of colors in a painting.

The point is: At the end you have a picture.

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anmalen, malte an, angemalt

Her you also use a brush to applicate paint onto a surface, but the result is not a picture. It's just a painted surface.

Silvia hat die alte Holzfigur rot angemalt.
Silvia painted the old wooden figure red.

So, at the end there is no picture on the wooden figure, just a layer of paint.

You can use anmalen also if the item to be covered with paint is not completely painted:

Lisa hat sich ihr Gesicht angemalt.
Lisa has painted her face.

That's a pejorative way of saying,

Lisa hat sich geschminkt.
Lisa put on makeup.

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There is another word you should learn:

ausmalen, malte aus, ausgemalt

This means to paint the walls of a room.

Frau Drachsler ließ alle Zimmer des Hauses weiß ausmalen.
Mrs. Drachsler had all the rooms of the house painted white.

You could also say

Frau Drachsler ließ im Haus alle Wände weiß anmalen.
Mrs. Drachsler had all the walls in the house painted white.

But when you have all walls of a room painted, it's better to use ausmalen.

Here you can see another difference:

• anmalen for walls, single items etc.
• ausmalen for rooms only