Ap Art History Works That Work for Many Themes

Adue south long every bit we humans accept been able to use our hands, nosotros have been creating fine art. From early on cave paintings to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, human artistic expression can tell us a lot nearly the lives of the people who create it. To fully appreciate the cultural, social, and historical significance of different artworks, you need to be enlightened of the broad art history timeline. This commodity presents an overview of many significant eras of art creation and the historical contexts out of which they have risen.

Table of Contents

• ane Art Eras: Where to Brainstorm?
• two A Brief Overview of the Art Periods Timeline
• three A Comprehensive Fine art Movement Timeline
  • 3.one The Romanesque Period (1000-1300): Sharing Information Through Art
  • three.2 The Gothic Era (1100-1500): Freedom and Fright Come Together
  • iii.3 The Renaissance Era (1420-1520): The Reawakening of an Art Era That Never Really Existed
  • 3.4 Mannerism (1520-1600): A Window into the Future of Kitsch
  • three.5 The Bizarre Era (1590-1760): The Glorification of Power and the Deception of the Eye
  • three.6 The Rococo Art Period (1725-1780): Light and Blusterous, a French Fancy
  • 3.vii Classicism (1770-1840): Throwing It Back to Classic Times
  • 3.8 Romanticism (1790-1850): A Break from the Severity of it All
  • 3.9 Realism (1850-1925): Objectivity over Subjectivity
  • 3.10 Impressionism (1850-1895): Heralding the Era of Modern Art
  • iii.11 Symbolism (1890-1920): At that place is Ever More Than Meets the Eye
  • iii.12 Fine art Nouveau (1890-1910): The Pure Gold of Gustav Klimt
  • 3.13 Expressionism (1890-1914): Bringing a Political Border to the Debate
  • 3.14 Cubism (1906-1914): Breaking Things Autonomously and Putting Them Back Together Again
  • 3.xv Futurism (1909-1945): Artistic Anarchism
  • iii.16 Dadaism (1912-1920): The True Reality That Life is Nonsense
  • 3.17 Surrealism (1920-1930): Things Just Get More Bizzare
  • three.xviii The New Objectivity (1925-1965): Cold and Technical
  • 3.xix Abstract Expressionism (1948-1962): Stepping Abroad from Europe
  • iii.20 Popular-Art (1955-1969): Fine art is Everything
  • 3.21 Neo-Expressionism (1980-1989): Modernistic Art

Art Eras: Where to Begin?

As long as humankind has been conscious of itself, information technology has been creating art to represent this self. The primeval cave paintings that nosotros are aware of were created roughly 40,000 years agone. We have found paintings and drawings of human activity from the Paleolithic Era under rocks and in caves. Nosotros cannot truly know the reason why these early humans began to produce fine art. Perhaps painting and drawing were a way to record their lived experiences, to tell stories to young children, or to pass down wisdom from 1 generation to the next.

These prehistoric rock paintings are in Manda Guéli Cavern in the Ennedi Mountains, Republic of chad, Cardinal Africa. Camels have been painted over before images of cattle, possibly reflecting climatic changes;David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, CC BY two.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Although we have these exquisite examples of early artistic expression, the official history of fine art periods but begins with the Romanesque Era. Official art era timelines do not include cave paintings, sculptures, and other works of art from the stone historic period or the beautiful frescos produced in Egypt and Crete in effectually 2000 BC. The reason behind this decision is that these early eras of artistic expression were bound to a relatively small-scale geographical space. The official art eras that we will exist discussing today, in contrast, span beyond many countries, oftentimes all of Europe and sometimes North and South America.

Despite their lack of official recognition, these earliest examples of human creative flair raise a lot of interesting questions. Why is it that the animals depicted in cave paintings are and then much more realistic and vivid than the animals represented in subsequently eras?

This article hopes to give you lot some insight into the always-irresolute creative fashion of the human artistic mind as we explore the complexities of the different fine art periods.

A Brief Overview of the Fine art Periods Timeline

As with many areas of human history, it is impossible to delineate the different art periods with precision. The dates presented in the brackets below are approximations based on the progression of each motility beyond several countries. Many of the art periods overlap considerably, with some of the more recent eras occurring at the same fourth dimension. Some eras last for a few thousand years while others span less than 10. Art is a continuous process of exploration, where more than contempo periods grow out of existing ones.

Art Period	Years
Romanesque	100 – 1150
Gothic	1140 – 1600
Renaissance	1495 – 1527
Mannerism	1520 – 1600
Baroque	1600 – 1725
Rococo	1720 – 1760
Neoclassicism	1770 – 1840
Romanticism	1800 – 1850
Realism	1840 – 1870
Pre-Raphaelite	1848 – 1854
Impressionism	1870 – 1900
Naturalism	1880 – 1900
Post-Impressionism	1880 – 1920
Symbolism	1880 – 1910
Expressionism	1890 – 1939
Art Noveau	1895 – 1915
Cubism	1905 – 1939
Futurism	1909 – 1918
Dadaism	1912 – 1923
New Objectivity	1918 – 1933
Precisionism	1920 – 1950
Art Deco	1920 – 1935
Bauhaus	1920 – 1925
Surrealism	1924 – 1945
Abstruse Expressionism	1945 – 1960
Popular-Art / Op Art	1956 – 1969
Arte Povera	1960 – 1969
Minimalism	1960 – 1975
Photorealism	1968 – at present
Lowbrow Pop Surrealism	1970 – now
Contemporary Art	1978 – now

It may seem strange for our account of the art period timeline to end 30 years ago. The concept of an art era seems inadequate to capture the variety of creative styles that accept grown since the turn of the 21st Century. There is a feeling among some fine art historians that the traditional concept of painting has died in our era of fast-rails living. We do not accept this opinion. Instead, we keep to share our unique man experiences through the medium of fine art, only equally the cavern people did, exterior of our mod system of classification.

Biergarten (c. 1915) past Max Liebermann;Max Liebermann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Comprehensive Art Movement Timeline

It is time to dive a petty deeper into the social, cultural, and historical contexts of each of the distinct art eras we presented in a higher place. Yous will see how many eras take influence from those before them. Fine art, like man consciousness, is continuously evolving. It is too important to note that this fine art timeline is a history of Western and predominantly European fine art.

The Romanesque Catamenia (k-1300): Sharing Information Through Art

Art historians typically consider the Romanesque art era to be the kickoff of the art history timeline. Romanesque fine art developed during the rise of Christianity ca. 1000 AD. During this time, merely a small percentage of the European population were literate. The ministers of the Christian church were typically office of this minority, and to spread the message of the bible, they needed an culling method.

Christian objects, stories, deities, saints, and ceremonies were the exclusive subject of about Romanesque paintings. Intended to teach the masses near the values and behavior of the Christian Church building, Romanesque paintings had to be simple and piece of cake to read.

As a result, Romanesque works of art are uncomplicated, with bold contours and clean areas of color. Romanesque paintings lack any depth of perspective, and the imagery is rarely of natural scenes. There were several different forms that Romanesque paintings could take, including wall paintings, mosaics, console paintings, and book paintings.

Due to the Christian purpose backside Romanesque paintings, they are almost always symbolic. The relative importance of the figures within the paintings is shown by the size, with the more important figures actualization much larger. You tin see that human faces are often distorted, and the stories depicted in these paintings tend to accept a loftier emotional value. Romanesque paintings oftentimes include mythological creatures like dragons and angels, and most e'er announced in churches.

At the most fundamental level, paintings of the Romanesque period serve the purpose of spreading the give-and-take of the bible and Christianity. The name of this art era stems from round arches used in Roman architecture, oft found in churches of the time.

Altar frontal from Avià, c. 1200; Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Gothic Era (1100-1500): Freedom and Fear Come Together

One of the most famous eras, Gothic art grew out of the Romanesque flow in France and is an expression of two contrasting feelings of the age. On the i hand, people were experiencing and celebrating a new level of freedom of thought and religious understanding. On the other, there was a fright that the world was coming to an end. You can clearly come across the expression of these two contrasting tensions within the fine art of the Gothic menses.

Just as in the Romanesque period, Christianity lay at the centre of the tensions of the Gothic era. Equally more freedom of thought emerged, and many pushed against conformity, the subjects of paintings became more than diverse. The stronghold of the church began to misemploy.

Gothic paintings portrayed scenes of real human life, such as working in the fields and hunting. The focus moved abroad from divine beings and mystical creatures as more than focus was given to the intricacies of what it meant to be human.

Man figures received a lot more attention during the Gothic period. Gothic artists fleshed out more realistic human faces as they became more individual, less ii-dimensional, and less inanimate. The development of a iii-dimensional perspective is idea to have facilitated this change. Painters also paid more attention to things of personal value like wearable, which they painted realistically with cute folds.

The Raising of Lazarus(1310-1311) by Duccio di Buoninsegna;Duccio di Buoninsegna, Public domain, via Wikimedia Eatables

Many historians believe that part of the reason why the subjects of fine art became more than diverse during the Gothic era was due to the increased surface area for painting within churches. Gothic churches were more expansive than those of the Romanesque period, which is idea to represent the increased feelings of freedom at this fourth dimension.

Alongside the newfound freedom of artistic expression, there was a deep fear that the end of the world was coming. It is suggested that this was accompanied by a gradual reject in faith in the church, and this in turn may take spurred the expansion of art exterior of the church. In fact, towards the terminate of the Gothic era, works by Hieronymus von Bosch, Breughel, and others were unsuitable for placement within a church.

We do non know many individual artists who painted in the Romanesque period, as fine art was not most who painted it but rather the message it carried. Thus, the movement away from the church building can also exist seen in the enormous increase in known artists from the Gothic menses, including Giotto di Bondone. Schools of art began to emerge throughout France, Italian republic, Frg, the Netherlands, and other parts of Europe.

The Renaissance Era (1420-1520): The Reawakening of an Art Era That Never Actually Existed

The Renaissance era is mayhap one of the well-nigh well-known, featuring artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. This era continued to focus on the private human equally its inspiration and took influence from the art and philosophy of the aboriginal Romans and Greeks. The Renaissance tin be seen as a cultural rebirth.

A function of this cultural rebirth was the returned focus on the natural and realistic earth in which humans lived. The 3-dimensional perspective became fifty-fifty more important to the art of the Renaissance, as is aptly demonstrated by Michelangelo'south statue ofDavid.This statue harkened back to the works of the ancient Greeks as information technology was consciously created to be seen from all angles. Statues of the final two eras had been two-dimensional, intended to be viewed only from the front.

Michelangelo'southward David (1501-1504); Livioandronico2013, CC By-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The same iii-dimensional perspective carried over into the paintings of the Renaissance era. Frescos that were invented around 3000 years prior were given new life past Renaissance painters. Scenes became more complex, and the representation of humans became much more than nuanced. Renaissance artists painted homo bodies and faces in iii dimensions with a strong accent on realism. The paint used during the Renaissance period as well represented a shift from tempera paints to oil paints. The Renaissance period is frequently credited as the very start of great Dutch mural paintings.

Mannerism (1520-1600): A Window into the Time to come of Kitsch

Of course, this heading is partly in jest. Not all of the art produced in this era is what we would understand today as "kitsch". What we empathise kitsch to mean today is often artificial, cheaply made, and without much 'classic' taste. Instead, the reason we describe the art of this catamenia as being kitsch is due to the relative over-exaggeration that characterized information technology. Stemming from the newfound freedom of human expression in the Renaissance period, artists began to explore their own unique and individual artistic manner, or style.

Michelangelo himself, in fact, is non gratis from the exaggeration that distinguishes this era. Some art historians do not consider some of his later paintings to be works of the Renaissance flow. The expression of feelings and human being gestures, even items of article of clothing, is exaggerated deliberately in mannerist paintings.

The small Southward-curve of the homo torso that characterizes the Renaissance fashion is transformed into an unnatural bending of the trunk. This is the first European style that attracted artists from across Europe to its birthplace in Italy.

Madonna with Long Cervix (1534-1540) by Parmigianino;Parmigianino, Public domain, via Wikimedia Eatables

The Baroque Era (1590-1760): The Glorification of Power and the Deception of the Centre

The progression of art celebrating the lives of humans over the ability of the divine connected into the Baroque era. Kings, princes, and even popes began to adopt to come across their own ability and prestige celebrated through art than that of God. The over-exaggeration that classified Mannerism also continued into the Baroque period, with the scenes of paintings becoming increasingly unrealistic and magnificent.

Baroque paintings oft showed scenes where Kings would be ascending into the heavens, mingling with the angels, and reaching always closer to the divinity and power of God. Hither, nosotros really can run into the progression of human self-importance, and although the discipline affair does non movement away entirely from religious symbolism, man is increasingly the key power within the compositions.

New materials that glorify wealth and condition like gold and marble become the prized materials for sculptures. Opposites of light and dark, warm and cold colors, and symbols of skillful and evil are emphasized across what is naturally occurring. Art academies increased in their numbers, as art became a manner to brandish your wealth, power, and status.

Baroque ceiling frescoes of Cathedral in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Work of Italian master Giulio Quaglio in 1703–1706 and subsequently 1721–1723;Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA four.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rococo Art Period (1725-1780): Light and Airy, a French Fancy

The paintings from the Rococo era are typical of the French aristocracy of the fourth dimension. The proper name stems from the French discussion rocaille which means "shellwork". The solid forms which characterized the Baroque period softened into light, air, and desire. Paintings of this era were no longer strong and powerful, but light and playful.

The colors were lighter and brighter, almost transparent in some instances. Many pieces of fine art from this period neglected religious themes, although some artists like Tiepolo did create frescos in many churches.

Much like the attitude of the French elite of the time, the art of the Rococo menses is totally removed from the social reality. The shepherd'southward idyll became the theme of this period, representing life as light and carefree, without the constraints of economic or social hardship.

Classicism (1770-1840): Throwing It Back to Classic Times

Classicism, like the Rococo era, began in France in around 1770. In contrast to the Rococo era, however, Classism reverted to earlier, more serious styles of artistic expression. Much like the Renaissance menses, Classisim took inspiration from archetype Roman and Greek art.

The art created in the Classicism era reverted to strict forms, 2-dimensional colors, and human figures. The tone of these paintings was undoubtedly strict. Colors lost their symbolism. The art produced in this era was used internationally to instill feelings of patriotism in the people of each nation. Parts of Classicism include Louis-Sieze, Empire, and Biedermeier.

A Childhood Idyll (1900) by William Bouguereau;William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Romanticism (1790-1850): A Break from the Severity of it All

You tin can see from the dates that this art era occurred at around the same time as Classicism. Romanticism is often seen as an emotionally charged reaction to the stern nature of Classicism. In dissimilarity to the strict and realistic nature of the Classicism era, the paintings of the Romantic era were much more sentimental.

The exploration of the intangible; emotions and the subconscious, took middle-stage. Effectually this time, people began to go hiking in an attempt to explore the natural earth. It was non, notwithstanding, the true reality of the natural earth which they intended to notice, but the way it made them feel.

There is no tangible or precisely determinable style to the art of the Romanticism catamenia. English and French painters tended to focus on the furnishings of shadows and lights, while the art produced by German painters tended to have more than gravity of thought to them. The Romantic painters were often criticized and fifty-fifty mocked for their interpretation of the world effectually them.

Realism (1850-1925): Objectivity over Subjectivity

Equally the Romanticism era was a reactionary movement to the Classicism flow before it, so is Realism a reaction to Romanticism. In contrast to the cute and deeply emotional content of Romantic paintings, Realist artists presented both the good and beautiful, the ugly and evil. The reality of the world is presented in an unembellished style by Realism painters.

These artists attempt to show the world, people, nature, and animals, as they truly are. In that location is a focus on the "obligation of art into truth" as Gustave Courbet puts information technology.

Just equally with Romanticism, Realism was non popular with anybody. The paintings are not especially pleasing to the eye and some critics have commented that despite the creative person's claims of realism, erotic scenes somehow miss the real eroticism. Goethe criticizes Realism, saying that art should be ideal, not realistic. Schiller likewise calls Realism "mean," indicating the harshness that many of the paintings portray.

Proudhon and His Children(1865) by Gustave Courbet; Gustave Courbet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Eatables

Impressionism (1850-1895): Heralding the Era of Modern Art

Historians ofttimes paint the Impressionist motility as the showtime of the modern age. Impressionist fine art is said to accept airtight the book on classical music and other classical forms of art. Impressionism is as well maybe, after Cubism, one of the most easily recognizable art periods. Featuring artists like Claude Monet and Vincent van Gough, Impressionism broke abroad from the smoothen brush strokes and areas of solid colour that characterized many art periods before it.

Initially, the discussion Impressionism was like a swear word in the art world, with critics believing that these artists did not pigment with technique, but rather simply smeared paint onto a canvas. The brushstrokes indeed were a significant departure from those that came before them, sometimes becoming furiously wild. Distinct shapes and lines disappeared into a cyclone of colors. Private dots of completely new colors were put together, particularly in the pointillism variety of Impressionist paintings. The subjects of Impressionist paintings could often merely be recognized from a distance.

View of Vetheuil sur Seine(1880) by Claude Monet;Claude Monet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A significant change that occurred during the Impressionist era was that painting began to accept place "en-plein-air," or outside. Much of the Impressionist artist's ability to capture the complex and e'er-changing colors of the natural world were a event of this shift.

Impressionist artists as well began to movement away from the desire to lecture and teach, preferring to create art for art's sake. Galleries and international exhibitions became increasingly important.

Symbolism (1890-1920): There is Ever More Than Meets the Heart

During this menstruum, the era of Symbolism began to accept hold in France. Artists became preoccupied with the representation of feelings and thoughts through objects. The favorite themes of the Symbolism movement were death, sickness, sin, and passion. The forms were mostly articulate, a fact which art historians believe was anticipating the Art Nouveau era.

Fine art Nouveau (1890-1910): The Pure Gilt of Gustav Klimt

Although Gustav Klimt was past no means the most important artist in the Fine art Nouveau movement, he is one of the most well-known. His style perfectly encapsulates the Art Nouveau motility with soft, curved lines, lots of florals, and the stylistic characterization of human figures. In many countries, this style is known as the Secession style.

The Osculation (1907-1908) by Gustav Klimt;Gustav Klimt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Eatables

The art produced in the Art Nouveau flow includes a lot of symmetry and is characterized by playfulness and youthfulness. Art Nouveau has a lot of political content, although many critics ignore this and concord the decorative aspects confronting it. Through the art of the Art Nouveau period, artists attempted to bring nature dorsum into industrial cities.

Expressionism (1890-1914): Bringing a Political Edge to the Debate

In the Expressionism art era, we one time again see a resurgence of the importance of the expression of subjective feelings. The artists inside this movement were not interested in naturalism or what things await like on the outside. As a result, there is a certain tinge of aggression in some Expressionist paintings, which are oftentimes archaic and slightly wild.

Expressionism originated in Germany and is intended to contrast Impressionism. Towards the beginning of the Beginning World War, Expressionist paintings had a agonizing intensity well-nigh them. Intended to criticize power and the standing social social club, Expressionism spread these political ideas through the medium of paint. Art was beginning to become political.

Cubism (1906-1914): Breaking Things Autonomously and Putting Them Back Together Again

Beginning with two artists, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, the Cubist movement was all well-nigh fragmentation, geometric shapes, and multiple perspectives. The dimensional planes of everyday objects were broken down into dissimilar geometric segments and put dorsum together in a style that presented the object from multiple sides simultaneously.

Cubism was a rejection of all the rules of traditional western painting and has had a strong influence on the styles of art that have followed it.

Guitar and Glasses (1912) by Juan Gris;Juan Gris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Futurism (1909-1945): Artistic Anarchism

Futurism is less of an artistic mode and more than of an artistically inspired political movement. Founded by Tommaso Marinetti'due southFuturist Manifesto, which rejected social organization and Christian morality, the Futurist era was full of chaos, hostility, aggression, and anger. Although Marinetti was not a painter himself, painting became the most prominent form of art within the Futurist motion.

These artists vehemently rejected the rules of Classical painting, assertive that everything that was passed through generations (behavior, traditions, religion) was suspicious and dangerous. The militant nature of the Futurist motility has resulted in many people assertive that information technology was likewise close to fascism.

Dadaism (1912-1920): The True Reality That Life is Nonsense

Dada ways a corking many things and nothing at all. The writer Hugo Ball discovered that this small word has several different meanings in unlike languages and at the same time, as a give-and-take, it meant nothing at all. The Dadaism move is based on the concepts of illogic and provocation and was seen as not only an fine art motility, but an anti-state of war motion.

The illogic of existing rules, norms, traditions, and values was called into question past the Dadaist move. The art move encompassed several fine art forms including writing, poesy, dance, and performance art. Part of the move was to call into question what could be classified as "art".

Dadaism represents the beginnings of action art in which painting becomes more than but a portrait of reality, but rather an amalgamation of the social, cultural, and subjective parts of existence human being.

Surrealism (1920-1930): Things But Become More Bizzare

As if the pure illogic nature of the Dadaism movement was non outlandish plenty, the Surrealists took the dream world to be the fountain of all truth. One of the most famous Surrealist artists is Salvador Dali, and yous are leap to know his painting Melting Watch (1954).

Surrealism is fundamentally psychoanalytical, and many Surrealist artists would paint straight from their dreams. Sometimes dealing with uncomfortable concepts, hidden desires, and taboos, Surrealism was a direct critique of the ingrained ideas and behavior of the bourgeoise. Every bit you can imagine, this style of art was not pop when it began, simply it has profoundly influenced the world of modern art.

Space and time (in homage to 50.5. Beethoven) (1974) by Italian painter William Girometti;William Girometti, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The New Objectivity (1925-1965): Cold and Technical

Equally the surrealists were attempting to move away from the world of physical, concrete, and visible objects, the New Objectivity motility turned towards these ideas. Many of the themes inside New Objective art were social critiques. The turbulence of the war left many people searching for some kind of guild to hold onto, and this can be seen clearly in the art of New Objectivity.

The images represented in New Objectivity were oftentimes cold, unemotional, and technical, with some favorite subjects being the radio and lightbulbs. As is the case with many modern movements in fine art, in that location were several different wings to the New Objectivity movement.

Abstruse Expressionism (1948-1962): Stepping Away from Europe

Abstract Expressionism is said to be the starting time fine art move to originate exterior of Europe. Emerging from Due north America, Abstract Expressionism focused on color-field painting and action paintings. Rather than using a canvas and a brush, buckets of paint would be poured on the ground, and artists used their fingers to create images.

With well-known artists like Marc Tobey and Jackson Pollock, this fine art movement was distinct from any that came before it. The application of the pigment was sometimes so thick that the finished slice would accept on a form unlike any painting before it. Abstract Expressionism spread throughout Europe. Equally with all fine art, there are always critics, with bourgeois Americans during the cold war calling it "un-American."

Pop-Art (1955-1969): Art is Everything

For the artists of Pop-Art, everything in the world was fine art. From advertisements, tin cans, toothpaste, and toilets,everythingis art. Pop-Fine art developed simultaneously in the United States and England and is characterized by compatible blocks of color and articulate lines and contours. Painting and graphic art became influenced by photorealism and serial prints. Ane of the most famous English language Pop artists is David Hockney, although only a few of his lifetime paintings were in this motility.

A detail of Roy Lichtenstein's Wall Explosion II, 1965; Colin McLaughlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Neo-Expressionism (1980-1989): Mod Fine art

Starting in the 1980s, Neo-Expressionism emerged with large-format representational and life-affirming paintings. Berlin was a central indicate for this new motility, and the designs typically featured cities and big-city life. The proper name Neo-Expressionism emerged from Fauvism, and although the artists in Berlin disbanded in 1989, some artists continued to pigment in this manner in New York.

Art is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. Many of the troubles and joys we experience can only exist captured accurately through artistic expression. We hope that this short summary of the fine art periods timeline has helped yous proceeds some more insight into the contexts surrounding some of the nigh famous works of fine art created by the homo race.

Nosotros've also created a web story about art periods.

mcgheeexpont.blogspot.com

Source: https://artincontext.org/art-periods/