Art throughout time

• Middle Ages


  • Themes: Feudalism, the Catholic Church, the Crusades
  • Characteristics: two dimensional, religious
• Italian Renaissance


  • Themes: Individualism, worldly experience
  • Characteristics: Classicism, perspective, religion, human figures, myths, more secular, ancient Greece and Rome
  • Areas of influence: Venice and Florence
  • Artists: Giotto, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Bellini, Brunelleschi
• Northern Renaissance

  • Themes: Salvation, religious piety, daily life
  • Characteristics: perspective, realistic, illumination
  • Areas of influence: Flanders, Northern Europe
  • Artists: Durer, Bosch, Vermeer, Brueghel, Holbein, Van Eyk
• Baroque


  • Themes: Power of the monarchy, "return" to the Catholic Church
  • Characteristics: Bold, dramatic, mystery
  • Areas of influence: Spain, Rome, France
  • Artists: Caravaggio, Bernini, Bruegel, Bosch
• Rococo


  • Themes: Extravagance, wealth frivolousness
  • Characteristics: light, ornate, frivolous
  • Areas of influence: France, Austria
  • Artists: Frangold, Boucher
• Neoclassicism


  • Themes: Ancient Greek and Roman culture, logic, reason, heroic accomplishment, the Enlightenment
  • Characteristics: Formal, fine brush strokes, gesturing without much facial expression
  • Areas of influence: France
  • Artists: David, Ingres
• Romanticism


  • Themes: Emotion, passion, revolution, heroism, rejection of logic and reason
  • Characteristics: Bold or muted color, stormy skies, nature, misty feeling, people are idealized
  • Areas of influence: France, England, Spain
  • Artists: Delacroix, Turner, Goya
• Realism


  • Themes: Rejection of romanticism, daily life, common people, lack of emotion
  • Characteristics: people appear tired and worn out, ordinary and not idealized
  • Areas of influence: Netherlands
  • Artists: Millet, Courbet
• Impressionism


  • Themes: First impression based on light and the sudden moment
  • Characteristics: short, choppy, light brushstrokes, outdoors
  • Areas of influence: France
  • Artists: Monet, Renoir, Manet
• Post-Impressionism


  • Themes: Rejected the limits of impressionism
  • Characteristics: more detail than impressionism
  • Areas of influence: France
  • Artists: Matisse, Cezanne, Seurat, Van Gogh
• Expressionism


  • Themes: Freud's ideas of analyzing the psyche, expressing what the artist feels
  • Characteristics: dissonance of color and perspective, messages of anxiety, dark
  • Areas of influence: Germany, Spain, France, Russia, Norway, Netherlands
  • Artists: Munch, Kircher, Kandinsky
• Fauvism


  • Themes: Color becomes the subject
  • Characteristics: Color is more important than lines or subjects, and may be "misplaced"
  • Areas of influence: France, Netherlands
  • Artists: Matisse, some Van Gogh
• Cubism


  • Themes: New theories, such as relativity
  • Characteristics: "Synthesized" view of the subject, some African characteristics, fragmented subject, geometric shapes
  • Areas of influence: France
  • Artists: Picasso, Braque, Leger
• Futurism


  • Themes: speed, power of the machine, progress, restlessness of modern life
  • Characteristics: Modern materials
  • Areas of influence: Italy and Germany
  • Artists: Boccioni
• Dadaism


  • Themes: The absurd, reaction to WW II
  • Characteristics: Technique of accident and chance creating art
  • Areas of influence: France (particularly Paris), Switzerland, Germany
  • Artists: Duchamp, Arp, Ray
• Surrealism


  • Themes: The imagination in dreams, lack of reason
  • Characteristics: Incorporated ideals of Freud
  • Areas of influence: Norway, Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany
  • Artists: Dali, Magritte
• Abstract Expressionism


  • Themes: Nonrepresentational, shape, line, color
  • Characteristics: Planes, shapes, color
  • Areas of influence: Paris (US)
  • Artists: Riopelle Gorky
• Pop Art


  • Themes: bitterness out of the World Wars, pop culture
  • Characteristics: Random objects, use of dry humor
  • Areas of influence: Began in Britain
  • Artists: "The Independent Group" in Britain, Frontera Group in Scotland