Art Timeline

• Ancient Art Era: 15,000- 5000 BC• Egyptian Art Era: 1000 BC• Minoan Era: 15,000- 5000 BC• Greek Era: 400 BC• Roman Era: 200 BC- 100 AD• Byzantine Era: 400 AD• Romanesque Era: 1000 AD• Gothic Era: 1250 AD• Early Renaissance Era: 1400 AD• Renaissance Era: 1400-1500 AD • Baroque Era: 1600• Rococo Era: 1700 AD• Neoclassism Era: 1800 AD • Romanticism Era: 1800 AD

• Realism Era: 1800 AD • Pre-Raphaelites Era: 1850 AD• Impressionism Era: 1875 AD• Post-Impressionism Era: 1875 AD• Abstraction Era: 1900 AD• Fauvism Era: 1900 AD• Cubism Era: 1900 AD• Futurism Era: 1900 AD• Dada Era: 1900 AD• Surrealism Era: 1900 AD• Abstract Expressionism Era: 1950 AD• Pop Art Era: 1950 AD• Op Art Era: 1950 AD• Contemporary Art Era: 1960s-2000s AD

Style: Ancient Art Era: 15,000- 5000 BC Art: Cave paintings Media: Charcoal, Dirt, Pictographic writing, pottery wheel, early paints

World: Civilizations of: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Minoan

• Prehistoric people made paints by mixing vegetable, plant and earth pigments together with water or animal fat. These early paints took their colors from the earth and included mostly browns, reds and blacks.

• The Egyptians imported some of their pigments from as far away as India and made paints that are more like the paints of today. These paints were made of crudely refined pigments, natural resins and drying oils.

• The Romans learned how to make paints from the Egyptians, though most of the art of making paint was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was the English who revived the art of making paint in the Middle Ages. By the 1400 and 1500's, Italian artists were perfecting their paint manufacturing techniques. Many of them, however, liked to keep their paint recipes and techniques a secret, which meant that the knowledge of making a specific paint or color often died with its creator.

• The manufacture of paint on a commercial level began in Europe and the United States during the 1700's. Today, artists use many kinds of paint, including watercolor, tempera, oil and acrylic.

Cave painting, Lascaux, France, 15,000 -10,000 BC

Style: Ancient Art Era: 15,000- 5000 BC Pigments

• Pigments give color to paint. In the past, pigments were powders made by grinding up minerals, plants and animal parts. The most expensive pigments used to be gold, vermilion (a red pigment made from sulfur and mercury) and ultramarine (a blue pigment made from a stone called lapis lazuli). Modern pigments are made from chemicals which come in brighter colors, resist fading, and are less expensive.

• Pigments are mixed with a "binding agent" such as egg, oil, animal fat, water or synthetic resin to make a paintable liquid that dries.

Style: Ancient Art Era: 15,000- 5000 BC Media: Tempera Paint

• Tempera or "egg tempera" is a type of paint made by mixing powered pigments with egg yolks. Tempera pigments usually came from natural sources such as minerals, wood, plants or clay. Because tempera dried right away, artists had to apply it quickly with small brushstrokes. Rapid drying also made it difficult to change or correct the painting later.

• Tempera is the oldest paint known. It was used in wall paintings of ancient Egypt, Babylonia and Greece. Tempera remained popular, especially in early Renaissance Italy, until the 15th century, when oil paints were developed.

• Today's tempera paints are very different than tempera paints of the past. The "tempera" paints many of us use in school are not made by grinding pigments and cracking eggs. Bottled "tempera" paints are popular paints for elementary students and above because of their bright, washable colors.

Style: Egyptian Art Era: 1000 BC Art: Dipylon vase Media: Papyrus World: Jerusalem founded

• Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted longer than any other in history—from 3000 B.C. to 50 B.C. The Nile River valley's rich resources allowed the ancient Egyptian culture to thrive for nearly 3000 years. Surrounding deserts helped keep Egypt safe from invasion until its fall under the ancient Greeks and Romans.

• The ancient Egyptians are best known for their pyramids and mummies. They also developed hieroglyphic writing, created beautiful sculptures and paintings, and made the first 365 day calender. By studying the human body, they learned about surgery, antiseptics and the circulatory system.

Wall painting of Queen NefertariRamesses II was an Egyptian pharaoh. He lived from c. 1314 BC to 1224 BC

Sobek, fertility god of ancient Egypt.

Egyptian paintings from the time of Ramses III

Egyptian paintings from the time of Ramses III

Style: Minoan Era: 15,000- 5000 BC

The Minoan Civilization

• The greatest civilization of the Bronze Age was that of the Minoans, a mercantilist people who built a trading empire from their homeland of Crete and from other Aegean islands. Minoan civilization was known for its beautiful ceramics, but also for its frescos, landscapes, and stone carvings. In the early Minoan period ceramics were characterized by linear patterns of spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, fishbone motives and such. In the middle Minoan period naturalistic designs such fish, squids, birds and lilies were common. In the late Minoan period flowers and animals were still the most characteristic, but variability had increased. The 'palace style' of the region around Knossos is characterized by strong geometric simplification of naturalistic shapes and monochromatic painting. The Palace at Knossos was decorated with frescoes showing aspects of everyday life, including court ritual and entertainment such as bull-leaping and boxing. The Minoans were also skilled goldsmiths, creating beautiful pendants and masks in the precious metal.

Fresco showing three women

Style: Greek Era: 400 BC Art: Acropolis, Grecian urns World: Greece’s Golden Age, Alexander the Great

• Greek architecture is famous for its temples. These temples were often only big enough to house a cult statue and were not meant to be places for large gatherings of people. A typical Greek temple had a long, inner chamber surrounded by columns. There were three main types of columns: the simple Doric, the graceful Ionic and the ornate Corinthian.

• Greek sculpture portrayed gods and goddesses as well as mortal humans. Over the centuries, Greek artists became better at showing their subjects in more active poses, and more lifelike as well.

• Most of what we know of Greek painting comes from the work we have on pottery. We also know it from writings and Roman copies of Greek artwork. The most common subjects for these artists were scenes from mythology and everyday life.

Style: Roman Era: 200 BC- 100 ADArt: Nike of Amothrace, Pompeii wall art Media: Chinese invent paper, Quill pen

World: Rome dominates Near East- Peak of Roman Empire

• The Romans adopted much from Greek architecture, but they created their own style as well. The Romans created new types of structures, such as public baths and amphitheaters. Romans also developed two things that let them build larger structures than the Greeks had: the arch and the aqueduct. The arch eliminated the need for columns to support heavy roofs. Using arches, the Romans could build huge buildings (such as the Pantheon), long bridges, and long aqueducts that carried water to Roman cities. The Romans also invented concrete, a strong and cheap building material for their arches, walls and vaults.

• Roman painting and sculpture also borrowed from the Greeks. Greek art portrayed lifelike, though idealized, human subjects. Roman sculptures created works that reflected the subject’s individual personality. Roman artists also illustrated important events by carving scenes on large monuments, tall columns and other public spaces. The art of portraiture was very popular during this time. At first, only the rich had portraits painted of their important male ancestors. But as portrait painting became more accessible, modest citizens, as well as women and children, had their portraits made.

Pompeii wall art Pantheon in Rome, Italy

Style: Roman Era: 200 BC- 100 ADMedia: Chinese invent paper

• Throughout history, people have used many surfaces for writing, including clay tablets, palm leaves, animal skins, bones, bamboo, silk and papyrus. Many of these earlier writing surfaces were expensive and impractical, and hard to carry around. For example, a two hundred page book would require twelve animal skins.

• The invention of paper like we use today can be traced to the Han Dynasty of China (202 BC to AD 202).Their process for making paper was much like the process today: a raw material such as tree bark was finely chopped, mixed with water, spread onto screens, and dried.

• The Chinese kept their papermaking skills a secret, so while papermaking was firmly established in China, the technology didn't reach Europe for another thousand years. It was the invention of the printing press in 1450 in Germany that created an increased demand for paper that furthered the European papermaking industry.

• The first American paper mill was established near Philadelphia in 1690 and by 1810, there were 185 paper mills in the United States.

Style: Roman Era: 200 BC- 100 ADMedia: Quill pen

• Ancient people were using crude pens made of hollow straws and reeds filled with a column of liquid as early as 444 BC. It was around 55 BC that people began to make pens using the wing feathers of swans and geese, hence their name "quill pens".

• Fountain penQuill pens were widely used until the 1800's when they were replaced by steel pens. The fountain pen was invented in during the late 1800's and was an improvement over the quill pen, because it had a reservoir of ink and didn't have to be repeatedly dipped in an inkwell.

• Ball-point pens were invented in 1888, but didn't become popular until World War II. Pilots and navigators in warplanes liked the fact that ball-point pens did not leak ink in high altitudes.

Style: Byzantine Era: 400 AD Art: Linisfarne Gospels Media: Papermaking introduced from China

World: Rome falls- Charlemagne

• Byzantine art flourished from about 300 A.D to the 1400s. It grew out of the early Christian world. It took its name from the capital city of the Roman Empire: Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople, then Istanbul when the Ottomans captured the city in 1453).

• Byzantine art was very religious. Most Byzantine art was created for the Eastern Orthodox Church. Much Byzantine art was made by servants of the courts or members of religious orders. Most of these artists remained anonymous.

• Mosaics and paintings covered the domes of many churches. They were often made of precious materials such as lapis lazuli, gold and silver. Byzantine artists had to follow many rules about subject matter, content, and form. Symbolic representation was very important in Byzantine art. The subjects appear flat and fairly abstract compared to the liveliness and individualism of Western art because Byzantine artists used little shading or other techniques that would have made their subjects more lifelike.

Miniatures of the 6th-century Rabula Gospel display the more abstract and symbolic nature of Byzantine art.

Mosaic from the church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki, late 7th or early 8th century,

Style: Romanesque Era: 1000 ADArt: Bayeux Tapestry Media: Paper first manufactured in Europe, Tempera, Fresco,Ink

World: Normans invade England

• Romanesque art in Western Europe was popular from about 800 A.D. to the 1100s. The name Romanesque indicates a style like that of the ancient Romans. That description is not entirely accurate, however, since Roman art was only one of many sources that inspired this period.

• Romanesque art reflected the political and religious climate of the times. Europe was in upheaval, both from invading tribes and among the religions of the time: Catholicism, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Islam. Romanesque buildings had to be designed for defense, so cathedrals were massive in size.

• Romanesque cathedrals were also built in the shape of a Latin cross. They were decorated with stone sculptures depicting Biblical scenes. The walls portrayed religious subjects and were painted in fresco, a durable style of painting done on wet plaster.

• Most Romanesque painting took the form of church murals and illuminated manuscripts, or books. There are few Romanesque murals left, since they suffered from fading, damp air, dirt and bad restoration. And as people’s tastes changed, they scraped away or replaced old murals with new works. Most of the murals that have survived over the centuries are only fragments.

Illuminated manuscriptPórtico da Gloria, Santiago. The colouring once common to much Romanesque sculpture has been preserved.

The "Morgan Leaf", detatched from the Winchester Bible of 1160-75.

Style: Romanesque Era: 1000 ADMedia: Paper first manufactured in Europe,Tempera, Fresco,Ink

• Throughout history, people have used many surfaces for writing, including clay tablets, palm leaves, animal skins, bones, bamboo, silk and papyrus. Many of these earlier writing surfaces were expensive and impractical, and hard to carry around. For example, a two hundred page book would require twelve animal skins.

• The invention of paper like we use today can be traced to the Han Dynasty of China (202 BC to AD 202).Their process for making paper was much like the process today: a raw material such as tree bark was finely chopped, mixed with water, spread onto screens, and dried.

• The Chinese kept their papermaking skills a secret, so while papermaking was firmly established in China, the technology didn't reach Europe for another thousand years. It was the invention of the printing press in 1450 in Germany that created an increased demand for paper that furthered the European papermaking industry.

• The first American paper mill was established near Philadelphia in 1690 and by 1810, there were 185 paper mills in the United States.

Style: Romanesque Era: 1000 ADMedia: Tempera

• Tempera or "egg tempera" is a type of paint made by mixing powered pigments with egg yolks. Tempera pigments usually came from natural sources such as minerals, wood, plants or clay. Because tempera dried right away, artists had to apply it quickly with small brushstrokes. Rapid drying also made it difficult to change or correct the painting later.

• Tempera is the oldest paint known. It was used in wall paintings of ancient Egypt, Babylonia and Greece. Tempera remained popular, especially in early Renaissance Italy, until the 15th century, when oil paints were developed.

• Today's tempera paints are very different than tempera paints of the past. The "tempera" paints many of us use in school are not made by grinding pigments and cracking eggs. Bottled "tempera" paints are popular paints for elementary students and above because of their bright, washable colors.

Style: Romanesque Era: 1000 ADMedia: Fresco

• Fresco ("Fresh" in Italian) was a common painting technique in Gothic art and during the early Renaissance. It was a favorite technique for painting enormous murals on church or home walls.

• In fresco, artists first spread wet plaster onto the wall. Then, while the plaster is still wet, the artist applies the pigment directly onto the plaster, mixing and spreading it quickly. Fresco artists must paint quickly—once the plaster dries, the paint becomes part of the wall and the painting cannot be changed.

Style: Gothic Era: 1250 ADArtists: Giottino,Martinni Media: Revival of paintmaking

World: Magna Carta

• Gothic art developed in the late Middle Ages. It lasted from about 1150 A.D. to 1400. Italian Renaissance scholars named this style "Gothic" because they thought it was barbaric and uncivilized—like the Goths who invaded Italy in the 400s.

• Some of the best-known examples of Gothic art are Gothic cathedrals. Gothic architecture is known for its gigantic size and height. The invention of the flying buttresses in about 1175 made these large buildings possible. Flying buttresses reduced the amount of solid wall space needed for support and made it possible to have large stained glass windows.

• Gothic sculpture was mostly used to decorate the doorways of cathedrals. It often showed figures and scenes from the Bible's Old Testament. It differed from Romanesque sculpture in that it was grander, calmer and closer to human scale.

The Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (ca. 1145). These architectural statues are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors.

Simone Martini (1285–1344)Giottino (fl. 1324 – 1369))

Style: Gothic Era: 1250 ADMedia: Revival of paintmaking

• Prehistoric people made paints by mixing vegetable, plant and earth pigments together with water or animal fat. These early paints took their colors from the earth and included mostly browns, reds and blacks.

• Egyptian paintingThe Egyptians imported some of their pigments from as far away as India and made paints that are more like the paints of today. These paints were made of crudely refined pigments, natural resins and drying oils.

• The Romans learned how to make paints from the Egyptians, though most of the art of making paint was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was the English who revived the art of making paint in the Middle Ages. By the 1400 and 1500's, Italian artists were perfecting their paint manufacturing techniques. Many of them, however, liked to keep their paint recipes and techniques a secret, which meant that the knowledge of making a specific paint or color often died with its creator.

• The manufacture of paint on a commercial level began in Europe and the United States during the 1700's. Today, artists use many kinds of paint, including watercolor, tempera, oil and acrylic.

Style: Early Renaissance Era: 1400 AD Artists: Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Piero, Lippi, Titian Media: Printing press, Oil paint, Pastel

World: Holy Roman Empire, de Medici rules Florence, Columbus reaches Americas

• The Renaissance (1450 - 1600) was great rebirth of humanism, and a revival in cultural achievements for their own sake. The Renaissance began in Italy and then spread throughout northern Europe. Art, science and literature all grew tremendously during the Renaissance, led by artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, scientists like Galileo, and writers like Shakespeare.

• In art, the Renaissance renewed interest in naturalistic styles and formal rules of composition such as perspective. The Greek classical ideals of ideal proportions (for depicting the human body as well as for architecture and painting) also regained popularity. Important artists of the Italian Renaissance were Donetello, Piero, Raphael, Titian, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. In northern Europe, important Renaissance artists were Albrect Dürer, Hans Holbein, and Pieter Brueghel.

• Significant achievements occur around 1400 in both Italy and north of the Alps. Masaccio's art and the writings of Leon Battista Alberti helped establish linear perspective and the idealization of the human body as primary ideas of Italian Renaissance painting in the early 15th century. Likewise, Early Netherlandish artists such as Jan van Eyck were innovators in oil painting and intuitive spatial compositions.

Titian, Sacred and Profane Love, c. 1513-1514

Sandro Botticelli, Magnificat, 1480-81, tempera on panel, Uffizi Gallery, Florence Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1487

Pen and ink with wash over metalpoint on paper

Style: Early Renaissance Era: 1400 AD Media: Oil Paint

• Oil paints were invented in the 15th century by a Flemish painter, Jan van Eyck. Before oil paint, most painters used tempera paint, which dried very quickly and didn't allow the artist to make changes or corrections. The invention of oil paints allowed artists to paint much more realistically and experiment with different brushstrokes and styles.

• Oil paint is a mix of ground pigments and linseed, poppy or walnut oil. Since oil dries slowly, artists could take more time to work on details and capture the textures of skin and fabrics. Oil paints could also be built up in thin layers which better reflect light.

• Oil paints could be used to create more realistic paintings.

• Oil paints remained the most popular kind of paint for 500 years until the invention of acrylic paints in the 1950s.

Style: Renaissance Era: 1400-1500 AD Artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian Media: Printing press, Oil paint, Pastel

World: Holy Roman Empire, de Medici rules Florence, Columbus reaches Americas

Techniques:• perspective: The first major treatment of the painting as a window into space appeared in the work of Giotto di Bondone, at the

beginning of the 14th century. True linear perspective was formalized later, by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti.

• foreshortening - The term foreshortening refers to the artistic effect of shortening lines in a drawing so as to create an illusion of depth.

• sfumato - The term sfumato was coined by Italian Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci, and refers to a fine art painting technique of blurring or softening of sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. This stems from the Italian word sfumare meaning to evaporate or to fade out. The Latin origin is fumare, to smoke. The opposite of sfumato is chiaroscuro.

• chiaroscuro - The term chiaroscuro refers to the fine art painting modeling effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. This comes from the Italian words meaning light (chiaro) and dark (scuro), a technique which came into wide use in the Baroque Period.; Sfumato is the opposite of chiaroscuro.

• Balance and Proportion: proper sizes and the use of airy, bright colors. The human anatomy wasn't as idealized as during the

Mona LisaLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–1506Oil on poplar, Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Last SupperLeonardo da Vinci, April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519tempera on gesso, pitch and masticSanta Maria delle Grazie, Milan

David. Michelangelo, 1504Carrara Marble, Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia

Style: High Renaissance Era: 1500Artists: Donetello, Raphael, Titan, Michelangelo, Leonardo daVinci,

Media: First use of canvas World: Elizabeth I, Magellan circles the globe

•The brief High Renaissance (c. 1500–1520) centered around Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael in Florence and Rome, was a culmination of the Italian achievements, while artists like Albrecht Dürer brought a similar level of intellectual and artistic innovation to northern Europe.

•Late Renaissance painting, from about 1520 until the end of the 16th century, is marked by various Mannerist tendencies that spread from Italy through the rest of France.

The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. The School of Athens - fresco by Raffaello Sanzio 1511

Style: Baroque Era: 1600 Artists: Caravaggio, Rubens, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Poussin Media: Modern pencil invented World:

Galileo, British colonize America

• Baroque style first appeared in Europe in the late 1500s. It remained the dominant style until the more relaxed and intimate Rococo period developed in the 1700s. The word baroque comes from the Portuguese word meaning "irregularly shaped pearl." It was first used in the 17th century to describe something that did not meet the classical standards of the Renaissance. Baroque artists created art that was ornately decorated, dynamic and was filled with emotion. All available space on a canvas was filled with action, detail and movement.

• The Baroque period was also a time of political and religious tension. Catholic authorities, alarmed by the Reformation, wanted a style of art to draw people back to the Catholic Church. They felt that art of the period should have only one aim: to glorify the Catholic religion and make Catholic beliefs more popular. Paintings and other art created during this time were full of high drama and emotional appeal, portraying vivid images of the Bible, saints, miracles and the crucifixion.

• This flamboyant style was fueled in another way as well. Many rulers and other important people paid for artworks to show off their own wealth and power. Baroque art, in general, was characterized by elaborate displays of grandeur. It reflected the contradictory forces and emotions of the time.

• Some well-known Baroque artists were Caravaggio, Rubens, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens.

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa

The Taking of Christ, 1602. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

Style: Baroque Era: 1600 Media: Modern pencil invented

• The first pencils were used by the ancient Egyptians, who used hollow pieces of reeds, bamboo, and tiny brushes of hair to write on papyrus. They called this tool a "pencillus," which is Latin for "little tail."

• The modern pencil was invented in Northern England in 1564 after a storm blew down a tree. A black mineral substance was exposed in the tree roots, and was used by local townspeople for marking sheep. It was later sold in stick form and called "plumbago"—Latin for "acts like lead." Interestingly, pencils have never actually contained lead.

• Many people experimented with making what we consider a pencil. Most efforts consisted of wrapping twine or cotton around a core of graphite (from the Greek word graphein, "to write") to keep the user's fingers clean. It was the English Guild of Pencil Makers who encased the graphite in wooden shafts.

• Turquoise Pencil Sets

• The first American pencils were apparently made by a schoolgirl in Danvers, Massachusetts. She obtained some graphite, crushed it into a powder, mixed it with gum and stuffed it into hollowed-out twigs.

• Pencil "leads" were once square, until it was discovered that round leads were easier to sharpen and didn't break as often!

Style: Rococo Era: 1700 ADArtists: Fragonard, Boucher, Watteau, Hogarth World: Steam engine invented, Franklin experiments

with electricity

• Rococo was an outgrowth of the Baroque period. It flourished in Western Europe from about 1700 to 1780. The word rococo comes from a French word meaning "little rock" or "rockwork".

• The Rococo style often appears in decorative art (tapestries, furniture and porcelain) as well as other art and architecture. It is playful, showy, and luxurious. It often draws on symbols from nature, including shells, rocks, vines and flowers. Rococo revered beauty, focusing on the delicate and the ornate, and celebrating the gratification of the senses. Much of Rococo art portrays scenes from classical mythology with a delicacy lacking in Baroque art.

• Some of the better known Rococo artists were Antoine Watteau, Jean Honoré Fragonard, and Francois Boucher.

"The Swing," by J.H. Fragonard Gainsborough, ThomasDeutsch: Knabe in Blau (Porträt des Jonathan Buttall)1770

Le Dejeuner by Francois Boucher, demonstrates elements of Rococo. (1739, Louvre)

Style: Neoclassism Era: 1800 AD Artists: David, Canova, Thorvaldson World: American Revolution, French Revolution

• In the 1700s, archaeological discoveries in Greece and Rome revived interest in the study of classical art and literature. As a result, Neoclassicism became a popular art style, especially in France where the heroic, moral themes in classical history were used to inspire the causes of the French Revolution. Art of this time reflected calm, serious subjects presented with simple lines and a sense of order and purpose.

• Some of the better known artists of the Neoclassical style are the painter Jacques-Louis David and the sculptors Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldson.

David's Oath of the Horatii (1784-85)

The Academy, designed by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen and completed in 1885, in Athens, Greece

Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Love's Kiss

Style: Romanticism Era: 1800 ADArtists: Goya, Ingres, Constable, Gericault, Friedric Media: Photography, Watercolors

World: Louisiana Purchase, Queen Victoria, Irish famine, Railroads spread

• In the early 1800s, the drama, struggle and emotion of Romanticism replaced the calm, order and sense of purpose of Neoclassicism. New interests in exotic lands and travel fueled Romanticism. In France, despair followed the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and was reflected in art of the time. Artists painted soldiers fleeing the battlefield and scenes of death, despair and destruction. Painters chose scandalous and tragic subjects from the news of the day and transferred, in great detail and graphic emotion, these events to canvas.

• Some of the better known artists of Romanticism are painters Theodore Gericault and Caspar David Friedrich.

Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People 1830Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1819

Style: Romanticism Era: 1800 ADMedia: Photography

• Although photography dates back to Leonardo da Vinci's inventions during the Renaissance, the modern camera was invented in the 1830s with daguerreotypes. The first cameras were large and bulky, so people came to the photographer's studio to have their portraits taken. This meant that a main purpose of portraiture—recording what people looked like—could now be done more quickly and inexpensively than ever before. This has had a profound impact on art, and has prompted many artists to explore new styles such as Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism.

Style: Romanticism Era: 1800 AD

Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.

• The movement stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories. It elevated folk art and custom to something noble, and argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the form of language, custom and usage.

Henry Fuseli, 1781, The Nightmare, Detroit Institute of Arts

Style: Realism Era: 1800 AD Artists: Millet, Courbet

• In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution caused many social and economic problems. Jobs were hard to find and working conditions were poor for those lucky enough to find employment. There was growing concern on the part of artists and writers about the plight of ordinary persons at home and at work. This concern was reflected in the style of art that became popular in the mid-nineteenth century. This style was called Realism.

• At first, Realism shocked the critics and public. Artists didn't follow the rules taught to them in art school. The subjects of their work were humble citizens doing everyday work, rather than mythical heroes, Biblical or classical subjects, and portraits of the rich. These artists used new ways of handling brushes and paint so that their pictures had more texture and interest. The invention of the camera gave them the possibility of working from a photograph, an entirely new concept. Realists also were very interested in painting landscapes from a realistic point of view, and were especially interested in how the land looked during different weather and different times of the day. In fact, Realists' desire to paint in the open air and in their interest in how light affected one's perception of a scene paved the way for the work of the Impressionists.

• Some of the better known Realist artists are painters Gustave Courbet and Francois Millet.

The Gleaners, Francois Millet 1857 Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet, 1854. Realistic painting by Gustave Courbet.:

Gustave Courbet, Stone-Breakers, 1849.

Style: Pre-Raphaelites Era: 1850 ADArtists: Roesetti World: US Civil War, Evolution theory

• Painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1848, a group of young artists rebelled against the style of art that was being taught at the Royal Academy and other art schools. They felt the art of the day was dark and muddy in color. Nor did they like the subject matters, which they felt to be artificial.

• Instead they admired the work of the artists of the fifteenth century, with their careful brushwork, serious subjects and bright, fresh colors. These artists began to sign their work with the initials: P.R.B., the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, taking their name from the Renaissance master Raphael. Pre-Raphaelite artists chose subjects from the Bible, Shakespeare and the legend of King Arthur. They used bright colors and painted on a white canvas, rather than a brown one, to give their paintings a lighter, fresher look.

• Pre-Raphaelite artists believed art should have a serious, moral purpose and often filled their work with many symbols suggesting deeper meaning. While the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood lasted less than ten years as a group, other artists carried on with the style.

John William Waterhouse, 1888, The Lady of Shalott, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Persephone, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

William holman Hunt Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1868)

John Everett Millais Ophelia, 1852

Style: Impressionism Era: 1875 ADArtists: Artists: Cassatt,Degas, Monet, Morisot, Sisley, Pissaro

World: Colonialism peaks, Telephone, Light bulb, and Automobile invented

• The name Impressionism comes from Claude Monet's painting Impression:Sunrise, shown at an exhibition in 1874. A critic used the word to make fun of all the works in the show, but the artists later adopted the word to describe themselves.

• Impressionist artists tried to capture an immediate impression of what the eye sees at a single glance, rather than what the viewer knows or feels about the work. They were very interested in how light appeared on subjects in different weather and at different times of the day, an interest that can be traced back to Realism. They preferred to work outdoors in natural light, rather than in their studio with sketches. Their art tends to have brilliant colors that almost shimmer in their intensity.

Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), 1872, oil on canvas, Rouen Cathedral,

Facade (sunset), 1892-1894, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

Haystacks, (sunset), 1890-1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Camille Pissarro, Hay Harvest at Éragny, 1901, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Style: Impressionism Era: 1875 ADArtists: Cassatt,Degas, Monet, Morisot, Sisley, Pissaro

World: Colonialism peaks, Telephone, Light bulb, and Automobile invented

• Critiques of impressionism complained that the artists had not followed the traditional rules of composition. Impressionists favored subjects that appeared informal and spontaneous, reflecting the life they saw around them; rural scenes, city life and people dressed in everyday clothing going about their business. The sketchiness of this style, with its quick, visible brushstrokes, made critics complain that the pictures did not look finished, that the work was sloppy. Impressionists replied that their work was not just a window to view a certain subject, but that the viewer could become aware of the painting as an object in itself. In this way, it paved the way for abstract art.

• Some important Impressionists were Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.

Edgar Degas, Woman in the Bath, 1886, Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut

Edgar Degas, Dancers at The Bar, 1888, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Mary Cassatt, Lydia Leaning on Her Arms (in a theatre box), 1879

Berthe Morisot, The Cradle, 1872, Musée d'Orsay

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette), 1876,

Style: Post-Impressionism Era: 1875 AD Artists: Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh,

World: Colonialism peaks, Telephone, Light bulb, and Automobile invented

• Post-Impressionism refers to an artistic style that followed Impressionism at the end of the 1800s. Most Post-Impressionist artists began as Impressionists, but then decided to try new ideas. Some, like Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, leaned toward a more spiritual and expressive approach. They wanted to add emotion and symbolic meaning to their art. Their works often contain bold, unrealistic colors and expressive brushstrokes.

• It was the Post-Impressionists who bridged Impressionism's faithfulness to nature to the styles of the early 1900s-Fauvism, Cubism and abstract art.

• Some major Post-Impressionists were Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)

Georges Seurat (1859–1891)

Style: Abstraction Era: 1900 AD Artists: Modigliani, Picasso Media: Acrylic paint, crayon

World: Airplane invented, WWI, theory of Relativity, Great Depression, WWII, Atomic bomb

• In art, abstraction means that the artist changes the appearance so it no longer looks realistic. Artists use abstraction in many ways and for many different reasons. The artist may leave out details, shift the point of view, exaggerate, simplify or otherwise distort the image.

• Modigliani changes the face to simple, exaggerated shapes.

• Picasso’s abstract Cubist style shows more than one point of view.

• Abstract works of art that have no recognizable subject are called "non-objective."

Modigliani's "Portrait of a Young Man" Pablo Picasso's "Girl with Dark Hair"Non-objective abstract art

Style: Fauvism Era: 1900 AD Artists: Matisse, Derain

• At the turn of the century a group of artists so shocked the public with their art that they were called "wild beasts" or "fauves", in French. Fauvism flourished from 1898 to 1908. Fauvist paintings often used very bright, pure colors and short blunt brushstrokes. Fauvism differed from the Impressionism in that it was very emotional, raw, and even shocking and violent. Fauvist artist often chose colors, lines and shapes to express emotion rather than to represent the real world.

• Some well-known painters of this period were Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Georges Braque and Georges Rouault

Henri Matisse, Portrait of Madame Matisse (The green line), 1905, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark

André Derain, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Henri Matisse, Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra), 1907, Baltimore Museum of Art

Style: Cubism Era: 1900 AD Artists: Picasso, Braque, Gris

• Cubism developed in France between 1907 and the early 1920's. The name "Cubism" comes from an insult by another artist, Henri Matisse. He called a painting by Georges Braque: "petits cubes", or little cubes.

• Since the Renaissance, many artists believed perception and space were best shown with linear perspective, a mathematical system used to imitate nature. Artists using these ideas show a fixed point of view.

• Cubist artists, on the other hand, show more than one view at a time. A Cubist painting may show the front of a face and the side of a face at the same time. You can see this in Picasso's Girl with Dark Hair on the right. Modern studies of perception have shown that people do not view things from one fixed, all-encompassing place, but from an infinite number of glances which are then connected in the viewer's mind into one picture.

• Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were two Cubist artists who showed how space can be cut-up, distorted and transformed into different planes and views. Cubist painters asked themselves: "Is reality in the eye of the spectator, or is it whatever appears on the canvas?"

Georges Braque, 'Woman with a Guitar,' 1913

Juan Gris, Still Life with Fruit Dish and Mandolin, 1919, oil on canvas

Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910, The Art Institute of Chicago. Picasso's Analytical Cubist portrait of his

longtime art dealer.

Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas

Style: Futurism Era: 1900 ADArtists: Boccioni,Carra, Severini

• Futurism developed in Italy and Russia in the early 1900s. An Italian poet, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, named the style to emphasize speed, power, change and innovation in art. He wanted art to reflect the power of the machine, which he felt was more applicable to the times than the static and irrelevant art of the past. The invention of the automobile, a machine with power and speed, was a symbol of this movement's interest in technology.

• Futurist painters adopted many of the techniques of the Cubists, but while the Cubists favored still lifes and portraits, Futurists portrayed speeding cars, cyclists, dancers and sciences from urban life. Futurism was a proponent of violence and conflict. It called for the destruction of institutions such as libraries and museums. Futurism was aggressive and inflammatory, and the art of this era was intended to anger and inspire controversy.

• Some well-known artists of this period were Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra and Gino Severini.

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913)

Carlo Carra. The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli.

Mosaic by Severini decorating the Church of St.Mark in Cortona, Italy.

Style: Dada Era: 1900 AD Artists: Duchamp. Man Ray

• "Dada"—a French word for "hobbyhorse"— was chosen randomly for this art movement. During a meeting of young artists and war resisters in 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland, they stuck a paper knife into a French-German dictionary and selected the word it pointed to. They felt "dada" was a good fit for their art movement, which emphasized protest activities, despair regarding World War I, and distaste for what they thought were the bourgeois values of the art of the time.

• Dada art was nihilistic, anti-aesthetic and a reaction to the rationalization, rules and conventions of mainstream art. Many Dada artists considered their work to be anti-art or art that defied reason. They felt one purpose of their art was to enrage, as well as engage, their audiences. For example, Marcel Duchamp "improved" the Mona Lisa by painting a copy and adding a mustache. He also signed his name on a snow shovel and called it art. Some well-known artists of this period were Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia.

Cover of Anna Blume, Dichtungen, 1919

Fountain (1917) by Marcel Duchamp; photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.

Rrose Sélavy, the alter ego of famed Dadaist Marcel Duchamp.

The Misunderstood (1938). Collection of the Man Ray Estate..

Style: Surrealism Era: 1900 AD Artists: Andre Masson, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí

• Surrealism is an invented word—"sur" means beyond or farther than, so "surreal" means to go beyond real. It was named this because surrealist art derives much of its meaning from the theories of Dr. Sigmund Freud and the unconscious.

• Surrealism grew out of the Dada movement and flourished in Europe between World War I and World War II. Surrealism employed many of the techniques of Dada but emphasized the positive rather than the negative. Surrealism tried to meld the conscious and the unconscious, the world of dreams and fantasy along with reality so that the line between these ideas was completely blurred. Many artists of this time felt the unconscious was where the true center of art lay, and that artists could tap into this genius by bending and softening the lines between what one's eyes see and the dreamworld. Much of Surrealistic art portrays alternate realities; some created by accident, some using the unconventional realities of blind feeling and impulse. Some of the art of this time is quite cruel and violent as well as very beautiful. The artists, like the Dada artists before them, wanted to shock their viewers with the unexpected and make people think in new ways.

• Some well-known artists of this period were Andre Masson, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí.

The Elephant Celebes (1921) by Max Ernst

Giorgio de Chirico The Red Tower (La Tour Rouge) (1913).

René Magritte "This is not a pipe." The Treachery Of Images 1928-9

The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Salvador Dalí.

Media Era: 1930-1950s Acrylic Paint/ Crayon

• In the 1930's, Mexican outdoor mural painters needed to find a new durable paint to stand up to wind, rain, and high humidity. They began to experiment with chemical or synthetic resins as paint binding agents (binding agents, such as egg or oil, are mixed with dry pigments to make paints). By the mid-1950's, researchers in Mexico and the United States had developed a way to mix resins with water, which created a paint that was almost identical to oils, yet was more durable and dried quickly. Acrylic paint also made it possible for artists to work on any unprimed surface such as cement or concrete. Acrylic paint will not crack over time and can be mixed and cleaned up with water.

• It is uncertain when crayons were first invented, but they were known to have been used in Europe in the 1700's. In 1903, the first wax crayons were manufactured in the United States. The first box of eight wax crayons cost five cents. The eight colors were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, green and yellow. Today crayons can be made from wax, oil or plastic. Some crayons can be blended and others erased.

Style: Abstract Expressionism Era: 1950 ADArtists: Albers, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko

World: Vietnam War, Apollo moon landings, Fall of Soviet Union, AIDS virus

• Abstract expressionism (American Expressionism) was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and also the one that put New York City at the center of the art world, a role formerly filled by Paris.

• Although Abstract expressionism spread quickly throughout the United States, the major centers of this style were New York City and California, especially in the New York School, and the San Francisco Bay area.

• Abstract expressionist paintings share certain characteristics, including the use of large canvases, an "all-

over" approach, in which the whole canvas is treated with equal importance (as opposed to the center being of more interest than the edges. The canvas as the arena became a credo of Action painting, while the integrity of the picture plane became a credo of the Color field painters.

Willem De Koonin g, Woman V, 1952–1953. De Kooning's series of Woman paintings in the early 1950s caused a stir in the New York City avant-garde circle.

Jackson Pollock, No. 5, 1948. Such wo rks employ random naturalistic methods, with deliberate and intelligent designs and expressions— such that the work is understood to be a creation, and not just an accident.:

Style: Abstract Expressionism Era: 1950 AD Artists: Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko

World: Vietnam War, Apollo moon landings, Fall of Soviet Union, AIDS virus

• The 1940s in New York City heralded American Abstract expressionists via great teachers in America like Hans Hofmann from Germany and John D. Graham from Russi (influence visible in the work of Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock). American artists also benefited from Peggy Guggenheim's gallery The Art of This Century. Hans Hofmann in particular was important and influential to the development and success of Abstract Expressionism in the United States(protege was Clement Greenberg who became an influential voice for American painting and among his students was Lee Krasner, who introduced her teacher Hans Hofmann to Jackson Pollock her husband).

• In abstract painting during the 1950s and 1960s several new directions like Hard-edge painting and other forms of Geometric abstraction, as a reaction against the subjectivism of Abstract expressionism began to appear in artist studios and in radical avant-garde circles. Color field painting, Hard-edge painting and Lyrical Abstraction emerged as radical new directions.

Hans Hofmann The Gate, 1959–1960.

Clyfford Still, 1957-D No. 1. During the 1950s Still's paintings were characterized as being related to Color Fields

Style: Pop Art Era: 1950-60s ADArtists: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg

World: Vietnam War, Apollo moon landings, Fall of Soviet Union, AIDS virus

• Pop art started in Britain in the 1950s and spread to America in the 1960's. Pop artists used popular culture in their works. They neither praised nor condemned what they saw, but wove the flood of popular culture into their art in much the same way popular culture flooded into people's subconscious. They often used media, advertising and comic book art styles to bring art closer to real life.

• Andy Warhol's paintings of soup cans and movie stars are classic examples of Pop art. Pop artists wanted to bring art back to the people and to make it more meaningful to everyday folks. Critics saw Pop art as vulgar, sensational and without merit. Supporters liked it because they felt it was an art everybody could understand and that it brought all elements of art and life to one level. Some well-known artists of this period were Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg.

Andy Warhol, 1962 Campbell's Soup CansRoy Lichtenstein's Drowning Girl (1963) on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen1999, painted stainless steel and FiberglasNational Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Style: Op Art Era: 1960 ADArtists: Riley,Vasarely,

World: Vietnam War, Apollo moon landings, Fall of Soviet Union, AIDS virus

• Op art, also known as optical art, is a genre of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.

• "Optical Art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing."[1] Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in only black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

Movement in Squares, by Bridget Riley, 1961.

An optical illusion by Hungarian-born artist Victor Vasarely Intrinsic Harmony, by Richard

Anuszkiewicz, 1965

Style: Contemporary Art Era: 1960s-1970s AD

1960s

• Abstract expressionism• Bay Area Figurative

Movement• Color field• Computer art• Conceptual art• Fluxus• Happenings• Hard-edge painting• Lyrical Abstraction• Minimalism• Neo-Dada• New York School• Nouveau Réalisme• Op Art• Performance art• Pop Art• Postminimalism• Washington Color School

1970s

• Arte Povera• Ascii Art• Bad Painting• Body art• Artist's book• Feminist art• Installation art• Land Art• Lowbrow (art movement)• Photorealism• Postminimalism• Process Art• Video art

Style: Contemporary Art Era: 1980s-2000s AD

1980s

• Appropriation art• Demoscene• Electronic art• Figuration Libre• Graffiti Art• Live art• Mail art• Postmodern art• Neo-conceptual art• Neoexpressionism• Transgressive art• Video installation

1990s

• Cynical Realism• Information art• Internet art• Massurrealism• New media art• Young British Artists

2000s

• Pluralism• Relational art• Software art• Sound art• Street art• Stuckism• Superflat• Videogame art• VJ art

This table lists art movements by decade. It should not be assumed to be conclusive.