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10,000 BCE
Hall of Bulls at Lascaux
Prehistoric cave paintings, perhaps related to ancient ritual regarding the natural world -
Period: 6000 BCE to 5000 BCE
Çatal Hüyük
Neolithic town in Anatolia, early example of urban life. -
2000 BCE
Stonehenge
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600 BCE
Three-Legged Ting with Cover
Zhou Dynasty Bronze vessel used ritualistically. -
300 BCE
Great Serpent Mound
Large effigy likely constructed by the Adena culture. -
175
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
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190
Unswept Floor Mosaic
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400
Spider
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Period: 400 to 1400
Middle Ages
A loss of artistic principles resulted in flattening and poor perspective in art -
Period: 990 to 1051
Bi Sheng
Invented movable type using clay -
1070
Bayeux Tapestry
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1220
Charles Cathedral
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1229
Codex Gigas
Largest Medieval manuscript in the world. It is also known as the Devil's Bible. -
1269
'Six Persimmons'
Mu-Qi. Southern Song Dynasty, Dailoxu-ji, Kyoto. Ink on paper. Reflects Zen Buddhism, emphasizing meditation and simplicity. -
1323
Tutankhamun’s Mask
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1413
Linear Perspective
Created by renaissance painter Filippo Brunelleschi -
1426
Holy Trinity
Painted by Masaccio, it is one of the first successful examples of linear perspective. -
1430
Silver Representation of a Maize Plant
Inca, Peru. Silver. Glorifies the maize plant which was integral to Incan life. -
1434
Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck
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1436
Lucca Madonna by Jan Van Eyck
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1440
Johannes Gutenberg’s Printing Press
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1454
Gutenberg Bible
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1482
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Bottcelli
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1492
Proportions of the Human Figure by Leonardo Da Vinci
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1498
'Last Supper'
Leonardo Da Vinci. Milan. Depicts ritual meal as religious ceremony. Deifies Jesus. -
1506
Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci
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1513
Knight, Death, and the Devil by Albrecht Durer
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1547
Le Transi de Rene de Chalon
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1562
The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
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Period: to
Baroque
A style of architecture and art in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Western cultures (specifically in Europe) characterized by exaggeration, overstatement, and a flare for artifice and the theatrical -
Judith and Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi
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Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus by Peter Paul Rubens
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Vanitas Still life with self portrait by Pieter Claesz
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Deathbed Portrait of Christian IV, King of Denmark by Bernet Hilwaetz
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Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar
Rembrandt van Rijn -
Opticks by Issac Newton
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Mr. and Mrs. Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough
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The Swing by Jean-Honre Fragonard
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The Death of Marat by Jacques Louis David
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Portrait of the Artist
Jacques-Louis David. Neoclassical -
The House of Death by William Blake
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The Executions of May 3,1808 by Francisco Goya
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Self Portrait
Goya Y Lucientes. -
The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault
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Self-Portrait with Doctor Arrieta
Goya Y Lucientes. -
Napoleon Bonaparte's Death Mask
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The Gleaners, Brighton
John Constable. Offered nineteenth-century urban art audiences an invigorating view of a healthier way of life -
Three Seascapes
Joseph Mallord William Turner. One seascape was painted upside down; the canvas can be flipped -
The Course of Empire - Destruction
Cole Thomas. Depicted the ongoing battle between human development and natural forces -
Self Portrait
Eugene Delacroix. Romanticism -
“Boulevard du Temple”
This is the first photograph to include a visible person -
Self-Portrait with a Black Dog
Gustave Corbet. -
Self-Portrait (Man with Pipe)
Gustave Courbet. -
Naturalism
A style of art with imagery that resembles what we see in the world around us. Is also known as realism -
Ophelia by John Everett Millais
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Shoki the Demon Queller by Utagawa Kunisada
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Period: to
Ferdinand DeSaussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist and semiotician. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiology in the 20th century. -
The Harvest of Death by Timothy H. O’Sullivan
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The Artist in His Studio
James Whistler. -
Entrée du village de Voisins
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Self-Portrait in a Peaked Cap
Paul Cezanne. -
The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins
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L’Inconnue de la Seine
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Period: to
Arts and Crafts Movement
Focused on traditional craftsmanship as opposed to industrial production -
The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh
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Self-Portrait with Pipe
Vincent Van Gogh -
Vincent Van Gogh
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Pastels -
Self-Portrait
Vincent Van Gogh. -
Portrait of Mme. Ginoux by Vincent Van Gogh
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Self-Portrait
Paul Gauguin. Oil on wood -
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
Vincent Van Gogh. -
Self Portrait
Vincent Van Gogh. -
Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent Van Gogh
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Self-portrait with Yellow Christ
Paul Gauguin. -
Period: to
Art Nouveau
Utilized curved lines inspired by natural structures like plants and flowers -
The Scream by Edward Munch
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The Banjo Lesson
Henry Ossawa Tanner. First African-American celebrity artist in the United States. -
Pomo Basket
Intricate weaving, precious feathers, and beads, made by mothers and given to their daughters. Pomo tribe, California. -
Water Lily by Claude Monet
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Self Portrait
Pablo Picasso. Marked the beginning of the Blue Period -
A Trip to the Moon
One of the first films ever made to have a full production value and international success -
Casa Mila
Antoni Gaudi. Building designed to look very organic, part of Art Nouveau Period -
Cubism
a twentieth century art movement that abandoned a single point of view and mainly used simple geometric shapes -
Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso
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Death and the Maiden by Marianne Stokes
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Period: to
Futurism
An artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane, and the industrial city -
The Morning Anxiety by Giorgio De Chirico
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Dadaism
Early 20th century avant-garde European art movement -
Abstract Art
Visual imagery that does not copy reality. This may be achieved by simplifying, distorting, or exaggerating objects from nature -
Fit for Active Service by George Grosz
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Abstract Expressionism
a post WWII art movement that focused on self expression -
Monument to the Third International
by Vladimir Tatlin 1919. Wood and Metal. -
Surrealism
20th century art movement influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud. Fantastic and dreamlike imagery drawn from the subconscious; or automatic drawing similar to doodling -
International Style
An architectural style based around simple geometry with little adornment. -
Evening Attire
James Van Der Zee. Captured the real life of African Americans in Harlem during the 1920's -
Bird in Space
Constantin Brancusi. Concentrated on the animal's movement, rather than physical qualities -
The Treachery of Images
by Rene Magritte. Painting. -
Period: to
Crime Scene Photographs by Weegee
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Period: to
Guy Debord
French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International -
Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl
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Migrant mother with three children by Dorothea Lange
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Self Portrait with Monkey by Frida Kahlo
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Self Portrait
Pablo Picasso. -
Avant Garde
late 19th and 20th century artists who develop new concepts in their work -
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
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Lucifer by Jackson Pollock
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Noguchi Table for Herman Miller
Isamu Noguchi. Modernist furniture. Simple and harmonious. -
Crucifixion by Salvador Dali
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Red, Green, Blue by Mark Rothco
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Pantone
Created a standardized color palette -
Suzy's Sun by Joseph Cornell
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Letter To My Son
Asger Jorn. Painting -
Period: to
Situationist International
An international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists, prominent in Europe -
Memoires
Art book by Asger Jorn and Guy Debord. Renowned for its sandpaper cover -
Yves Klein's IKB
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Walking Man I
Alberto Giacometti. Emblem of the grim realities of the post World War II consciousness -
Floor Burger by Claes Oldenburg
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Souriez Rue Froide
Asger Jorn. Painting. Neo-Dada -
'Pie Counter'
Wayne Thiebaud. Oil on canvas. Display of standardized, colorful, mass-produced food during the era of Pop Art. -
Interaction of Color by Josef Albers
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Twelve Electric Chairs by Andy Worhal
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One and Three Chairs
by Joseph Kosuth. A chair, a photograph of the chair, and an enlarged dictionary definition of the word "chair". -
Today
On Kowara. Produced nearly 3,000 of them over more than four decades. 1966 -2013 -
Failing to Levitate in the Studio
Bruce Nauman. Attempted to levitate while lying between two chairs -
Seated Woman With Child
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A Line Made by Walking
Richard Long. A very simple earthwork -
Mirror Image 1 by Louise Nevelson
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The Door (Admissions Office)
David Hammons. Critiques the systemic denial of an equal education available to Black youth -
Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson
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Double Negative
Michael Heizer. Created by removing tons of earth, creating a negative space -
Partially Buried Woodshed
Robert Smithson. Intended the shed to slowly collapse under the weight of the Earth on top -
Stalingrad
Asger Jorn. Painting. Abstract -
Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso. -
Sun Tunnels
Nancy Holt. Concrete tubes act as viewfinders framing the sun -
TV Buddah by Nam June Paik
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House #3 by Francesca Woodman
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Punk
Magazine. -
Running Fence
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 24.5 miles of nylon fabric -
The Lightning Field
Walter De Maria. 400 polished stainless steel poles in a grid. -
Quilting Time
Romare Bearden. -
Witchetty Grub Dreaming
Paddy Carroll Tjungurrayi. Aboriginal, Papunya, Australia, 1980. Paint on canvas.
The patterns and symbols in this painting are part of the Aboriginal belief system of the origin of life and the sustenance of everyday existence. -
Untitled (Fallen Angel)
Jean-Michel Basquiat. Filled with his raw energy and emotion -
Guerrilla Girls
Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of radical feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. -
Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the Met? by Guerrilla Gurls
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The Artifact by James Luna
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Nicaragua
Nancy Spero. Handprinting and printed collage on paper -
Higher Goals
David Hammons. -
Immersion by Andres Serrano
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Cornered
Adrian Piper. Conceptual art concerning the nature of race -
Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death
Keith Haring. Offset Lithograph. -
Untitled #210
Cindy Sherman. Chromogenic color print. -
Kitchen Table Series
Carrie Mae Weems, A photographic investigation of a single domestic space in which the artist staged scenes -
Riot Grrrl
Underground feminist movement that began in the early nineties, which was closely tied to punk music, radical politics, and a DIY aesthetic -
The Temple of All Religions
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The Morgue (Hacked to Death II) by Andres Serrano
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Untitled (Four Etchings)
Glenn Ligon. Repeats "I do not always feel colored" from Zora Neale Hurston's essay "How it Feels to Be Colored Me" -
Mining the Museum
Fred Wilson. Presents Museum's collection in a new, critical light -
The Couple in a Cage: Two Amerindians Visit the West
Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco. Sought to make visible the history of abuse, captivity and exploitation of indigenous peoples -
The Scene of the Crime (Whose Crime?) by Pepon Osorio
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Faceless Women of Allah
Shirin Neshat. Series. Examines the complexities of women's identities in the midst of a changing cultural landscape in the Middle East -
Wigs
Lorna Simpson. A collection of hair pieces, depicting everything from Afros and braided hair to blond locks and doll wigs. -
Electronic Superhighway by Nam June Paik
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Dropping a Han-Dynasty Urn
Ai Weiwei. Dropped and smashed a 2000-year old ceremonial urn. Aimed to provoke controversy -
Mr. and Mrs. Andrews without their Heads
Yinka Shonibare. Headless life-sized mannequins recreate the poses of the subjects of the original paintings -
The Seniors Project (26)
Nikki S Lee. Photography -
GFP Bunny
Eduardo Kac. A transgenic artwork resulting in a bunny with fluorescent protein -
Untitled (1600 Stacked Chairs)
Doris Salcedo. Installation at 8th International Istanbul Biennal -
The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
Rithy Panh. Documentary. Brought together two former prisoners of the regime with their former captors at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum -
The Green Line
Francis Alys. Walked along the 1949 ceasefire line, known as the Green Line that divided Jerusalem until June 1967, with a leaking can of green paint -
Eleven Minute Line
Maya Lin. References the Great Serpent Mound -
Napolean Leading the Army Over the Alps
Kehinde Wiley. Naturalistic paintings of black people in heroic poses -
Ice T
Kehinde Wiley -
Cotton Hoards in Southern Swamp
Kara Walker. Confronts 19th century racial stereotypes though heightened exaggeration -
The Wonder Gaze
Ken Gonzales-Day. From erased lynching series -
The Giant 2 by David Altmejd
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Fountain of Light
by Ai Weiwei. Inspired by Monument to the Third International -
Third Ear
Stelarc. Ear constructed from scaffolding under the skin -
Untitled
Rodney McMillan. Found Chair -
Animal Estates
Fritz Haeg. Homes for wild animals in urban settings -
Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial by Rachel Whiteread
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The Geometry of Consciousness
Alfredo Jar. Memorial for the victims of the 17 years long pinochet military rule and dictatorship -
Love Monument
Maren Hassinger. Shopping bags with love note inside inflated by human breath. -
Blind Pig #3
Edgar Arceneaux. Centered around the city of Detroit -
A Place for Nature
Maren Hassinger. Wire ropes -
Broad Art Museum
Zaha Hadid. East Lansing, Michigan. An example of Deconstructivist architecture resembling abstract sculpture over traditional architectural forms. -
No Seconds by Henry Hargreaves
Photographs of the last meals of famous death row inmates -
Facets: A Recital Compilation
The Lone Wolf Recital Corps is a Multidisciplinary performance collective founded by Terry Adkins -
Standing Man
Erdem Gunduz. Nonviolent Protest. 300 people joined over the course of 8 hours -
Soundsuit
Nick Cave. -
Monochrome Black History
Theaster Gates. Bound volumes of Jet and Ebony magazines
