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Medieval Art was one-dimensional, religious, and focused on the Church. Gold backgrounds were used to show the brilliance of the Church and its teachings.
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Renaissance art attempted to capture the mysterious beauty of nature and the individual. It was heavily influenced from the reemergance of Roman and Greek classical teachings. The Medicis' in Florence, Italy were the most generous patrons of Renaissance art.
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Leonardo da Vinci's "The Perfect Man" represents the Renaissance's ideals of knowledge. He shows a keen interest in proportion and the study of the body.
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This painting by Raphael represents the Renaissance ideals of knowledge and reason because it depicts the gathering of great, ancient Greek philosophers coming together to discuss ideas.
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Baroque art reflected the desire of the Catholic Church to reestablish its authority after the rise of the Protestant Reformation. It paralleled the Catholic Counter-Reformation Art, and therefore, it portrayed Biblical mythogical illustrations. The paintings and sculptures themselves were huge and used light and shape to create an emotional scene,
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Northern realism represented the new discoveries in science during the 17th century. Figures were depicted in geometrical and mathmatical ways.
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Gabriel Metsu
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Rococo art reflected the lives of the aristocracies living in the Old Regime and their leisure activites. Lavish parties and playful scenery portrayed the aristocracy as frivolous and silly; however, most of them were not. The carelessness of this art style created a sense of annoyance toward the social elite from the commonwealth.
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Neoclassicism valued intellect, reason, logic, balance, and antiquity. It usually portrayed public life rather than personal daily activities and represented an ancient world style. Artists sometimes used it to demonstrate their political views, such as Jacques-Louis David's "Oath to Horatii"
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Francois Boucher
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A comedy by R.B. Sheridan that comments upon the hypocristy of the aristocracy and warns about the illusion of respectability.
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Jaques-Louis David
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JMW Turner
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Romantic literature was used as a term to describe all forms of writing that did follow traditional classical guidelines and focused on the imagination. On the other hand, Romantic artists looked to the medieval world and nature for their inspiration. They nature drew out powerful emotions in humans and was too immense to comprehend.
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The Brothers Grimm
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The goal of Victorian Art was to depict an accurate and realistic world rather than an idealized one. Victorian Art was a uniquely British movement during the late 19th century, when Great Britian was becoming industrialized. These artists felt the need to convey morals and lessons through their paintings.
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This is a Victorian-style painting by William Hunt that has a story and a moral. It portrays a young mistress, who, at the exact moment in the painting, realizes that she must leave her lover if she wishes to live a life of her own. The objects around the couple represent themes of their own, such as the soiled glove, which is symbolic of the fate of the woman if she choses to stay with the man.
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Impressionism arose primarily in Paris and focused not on religious or mythological themes, but on the social activities of the middle class. Color, light, and representation amazed these artists, and Impressionistic paintings became the most sought after artwork of the 20th century.
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"A Bar at the Folies-Bergére" by Éduard Manet comments upon the irony of commercial products being consumed in a commercial place. The painting portrays a barmaid surrounded by alcohol, and an audience, presumeably watching a show of some sort, is shown behind her. Manet payed a great deal of attention to the lightbulbs and their briilliance and incorporates the different inventions of his time. There has been much debate over the role of the barmaid, who could be seen as only an object.
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"A Sunday Afternoon" by Georges Seurat depicts a relaxing scene of people sitting by the water; however, if the viewer observes carefully, he can see that the Seurat used a technique called "pointilism"- that is, the use of dots to create an image. In addition, the artist incorporates themes of the 19th century, such as the mixing of classes, as shown by the oarsmen lying next to the "respectable" lady. He also ridicules the faux properity of the prostitute holding a pet monkey.
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The term "Expressionism" is applied to early 20th century art, literature, and theatre that portrays the world in a subjective way and distorts figures in order to force emotions to arise.
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Cubism reflected ancient Egypt and medieval antiquties and was seen as the dislocation of geometric shapes to create an abstract reality. It is a very subjective style of painting because the image is distorted, so one can barely recongnize the object portrayed.
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Surrealism is heavily influenced by psychoanalysis and Karl Marx and focuses on awakening the unconcious to unlock the imagination. Surrealists hoped to find revelations in everyday life and spur a Marxist revolution.
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Max Ernst
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Pablo Picasso
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Abstract expressionism portrayed the artist's individuality and subjectivity; however, it also attempted to speak on an universal level. Originating in New York in the 1940's, abstract expressionism focused on spontaneity and improvasination, and, as the name implies, was highly abstract.
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Jackson Pollock
