Relief refers to a type of sculpture in which elements are raised from a background of the same material. Typically mounted on a wall or integrated into architecture, relief is intended to be viewed from a limited number of angles, as opposed to in-the-round sculpture. Relief can be classified as bas relief, mid relief, or high relief; these terms refer to the depth from the highest point of the sculpture to the background. In high relief, the sculptural elements are the furthest removed from the background and the sculptor may employ undercutting to make the objects appear more three-dimensional. In contrast, bas-relief has very shallow depth, as found on a coin. Relief may be made in a variety of ways, including carving or casting. Cast reliefs are made from molds and may be fabricated from materials like bronze or plaster. A famous example of cast relief from history is the doors of the baptistery at the Florence Cathedral, known as the Gates of Paradise. Lorenzo Ghiberti made the doors of cast bronze covered in gold over the course of 21 years. Ghiberti used bas-relief combined with linear perspective to create remarkably illusionistic imagery. Carved relief is often made from materials like wood or marble. Carving is a subtractive process, requiring the artist to remove portions of the material in order to create the final image.

Relief continues to be a vital and exciting medium for artists to experiment with today. Jasper Johns, who has long created sculptural paintings incorporating wax and collage elements, made a dynamic series of cast reliefs in the early 2010s, revisiting motifs from earlier in his career. Other contemporary artists making relief sculpture include Isabelle Cornaro, Louise Nevelson, and Lee Bontecou.