How Do You Understand the Different Art Eras in Different World Locations

Adue south long equally nosotros humans have been able to use our easily, we have been creating art. From early cavern paintings to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, human artistic expression can tell us a lot about the lives of the people who create it. To fully appreciate the cultural, social, and historical significance of different artworks, you need to exist aware of the broad fine art history timeline. This article 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 Begin?
two A Brief Overview of the Fine art Periods Timeline
iii A Comprehensive Fine art Movement Timeline
- three.ane The Romanesque Period (1000-1300): Sharing Information Through Art
- 3.2 The Gothic Era (1100-1500): Freedom and Fear Come Together
- 3.three The Renaissance Era (1420-1520): The Reawakening of an Fine art Era That Never Really Existed
- 3.four Mannerism (1520-1600): A Window into the Future of Kitsch
- 3.v The Baroque Era (1590-1760): The Glorification of Power and the Deception of the Eye
- 3.half-dozen The Rococo Art Menses (1725-1780): Lite and Airy, a French Fancy
- 3.7 Classicism (1770-1840): Throwing It Back to Classic Times
- 3.8 Romanticism (1790-1850): A Break from the Severity of it All
- 3.ix 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 Always More Than Meets the Eye
- 3.12 Art Nouveau (1890-1910): The Pure Gold of Gustav Klimt
- 3.13 Expressionism (1890-1914): Bringing a Political Edge to the Fence
- 3.fourteen Cubism (1906-1914): Breaking Things Apart and Putting Them Dorsum Together Again
- iii.xv Futurism (1909-1945): Artistic Riot
- 3.16 Dadaism (1912-1920): The True Reality That Life is Nonsense
- 3.17 Surrealism (1920-1930): Things Just Get More Bizzare
- iii.18 The New Objectivity (1925-1965): Common cold and Technical
- iii.nineteen Abstract Expressionism (1948-1962): Stepping Away from Europe
- 3.twenty Pop-Art (1955-1969): Art is Everything
- iii.21 Neo-Expressionism (1980-1989): Modern Art

Art Eras: Where to Begin?

Every bit long every bit humankind has been conscious of itself, information technology has been creating art to represent this self. The earliest cave paintings that we are aware of were created roughly 40,000 years ago. We have institute paintings and drawings of human being activity from the Paleolithic Era under rocks and in caves. Nosotros cannot truly know the reason why these early on humans began to produce art. Possibly painting and drawing were a mode to record their lived experiences, to tell stories to young children, or to pass downward wisdom from one generation to the side by side.

These prehistoric rock paintings are in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad, Key Africa. Camels take been painted over earlier images of cattle, perhaps 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 fine art era timelines do not include cave paintings, sculptures, and other works of fine art from the stone age or the beautiful frescos produced in Egypt and Crete in effectually 2000 BC. The reason backside this decision is that these early eras of artistic expression were leap to a relatively small geographical space. The official art eras that we volition be discussing today, in dissimilarity, bridge across many countries, often all of Europe and sometimes North and Due south America.

Despite their lack of official recognition, these earliest examples of homo artistic flair raise a lot of interesting questions. Why is information technology that the animals depicted in cave paintings are so much more realistic and brilliant than the animals represented in subsequently eras?

This article hopes to give you lot some insight into the ever-irresolute artistic style of the human creative mind every bit we explore the complexities of the dissimilar fine art periods.

A Cursory Overview of the 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 movement across several countries. Many of the art periods overlap considerably, with some of the more than recent eras occurring at the same time. Some eras final for a few chiliad years while others bridge less than ten. Art is a continuous process of exploration, where more than contempo periods abound out of existing ones.

Art Period	Years
Romanesque	thou – 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
Mail service-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
Abstract Expressionism	1945 – 1960
Popular-Art / Op Fine art	1956 – 1969
Arte Povera	1960 – 1969
Minimalism	1960 – 1975
Photorealism	1968 – now
Lowbrow Pop Surrealism	1970 – now
Contemporary Art	1978 – now

Information technology may seem foreign for our account of the art period timeline to end 30 years agone. The concept of an art era seems inadequate to capture the variety of artistic styles that have grown since the plow of the 21st Century. There is a feeling amidst some art historians that the traditional concept of painting has died in our era of fast-track living. We do not take this stance. Instead, we keep to share our unique man experiences through the medium of fine art, just as the cave people did, exterior of our mod system of nomenclature.

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

A Comprehensive Fine art Movement Timeline

Information technology is time to dive a little deeper into the social, cultural, and historical contexts of each of the distinct art eras we presented above. You will see how many eras have influence from those before them. Art, like homo consciousness, is continuously evolving. It is also important to note that this art timeline is a history of Western and predominantly European art.

The Romanesque Menstruation (1000-1300): Sharing Data Through Art

Art historians typically consider the Romanesque art era to be the start of the art history timeline. Romanesque fine art adult during the rise of Christianity ca. yard AD. During this time, just a small percentage of the European population were literate. The ministers of the Christian church were typically function 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 most Romanesque paintings. Intended to teach the masses near the values and beliefs of the Christian Church, Romanesque paintings had to be simple and easy to read.

As a effect, Romanesque works of art are simple, with bold contours and clean areas of colour. Romanesque paintings lack any depth of perspective, and the imagery is rarely of natural scenes. At that place were several different forms that Romanesque paintings could have, including wall paintings, mosaics, panel paintings, and book paintings.

Due to the Christian purpose behind Romanesque paintings, they are nearly always symbolic. The relative importance of the figures within the paintings is shown past the size, with the more than important figures appearing much larger. Y'all can see that human being faces are often distorted, and the stories depicted in these paintings tend to have a high emotional value. Romanesque paintings often include mythological creatures like dragons and angels, and almost ever announced in churches.

At the most cardinal 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, often found in churches of the time.

Chantry frontal from Avià, c. 1200; Museu Nacional d'Fine art de Catalunya, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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

One of the near famous eras, Gothic art grew out of the Romanesque period in France and is an expression of two contrasting feelings of the historic period. On the ane hand, people were experiencing and celebrating a new level of freedom of idea and religious understanding. On the other, there was a fear that the world was coming to an end. You can clearly meet the expression of these two contrasting tensions within the fine art of the Gothic period.

Just equally in the Romanesque period, Christianity lay at the heart of the tensions of the Gothic era. Every bit more freedom of thought emerged, and many pushed against conformity, the subjects of paintings became more diverse. The stronghold of the church began to dissipate.

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

Man figures received a lot more attending during the Gothic period. Gothic artists fleshed out more realistic human being faces as they became more individual, less two-dimensional, and less inanimate. The development of a three-dimensional perspective is thought to have facilitated this change. Painters also paid more attending to things of personal value like clothing, which they painted realistically with beautiful folds.

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

Many historians believe that part of the reason why the subjects of art became more various during the Gothic era was due to the increased expanse for painting within churches. Gothic churches were more expansive than those of the Romanesque period, which is thought to represent the increased feelings of freedom at this time.

Alongside the newfound freedom of artistic expression, there was a deep fear that the stop of the world was coming. It is suggested that this was accompanied by a gradual refuse in faith in the church building, and this in plow may have spurred the expansion of fine art outside of the church. In fact, towards the cease of the Gothic era, works by Hieronymus von Bosch, Breughel, and others were unsuitable for placement within a church building.

We do not know many individual artists who painted in the Romanesque period, as art was not about who painted information technology simply rather the message information technology carried. Thus, the motility away from the church tin can besides exist seen in the enormous increase in known artists from the Gothic period, including Giotto di Bondone. Schools of art began to emerge throughout French republic, Italy, Germany, 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 possibly i of the well-nigh well-known, featuring artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. This era continued to focus on the individual homo equally its inspiration and took influence from the art and philosophy of the aboriginal Romans and Greeks. The Renaissance tin can be seen equally a cultural rebirth.

A part of this cultural rebirth was the returned focus on the natural and realistic world in which humans lived. The iii-dimensional perspective became even more of import to the art of the Renaissance, as is aptly demonstrated past Michelangelo's statue ofDavid.This statue harkened dorsum to the works of the ancient Greeks equally information technology was consciously created to be seen from all angles. Statues of the last two eras had been 2-dimensional, intended to be viewed only from the front.

Michelangelo's David (1501-1504); Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Eatables

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

Mannerism (1520-1600): A Window into the Future of Kitsch

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

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

The minor Due south-curve of the human torso that characterizes the Renaissance fashion is transformed into an unnatural bending of the body. This is the first European style that attracted artists from across Europe to its birthplace in Italy.

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

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

The progression of art celebrating the lives of humans over the power of the divine continued into the Baroque era. Kings, princes, and even popes began to prefer to run across their own power and prestige historic 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 often showed scenes where Kings would be ascending into the heavens, mingling with the angels, and reaching e'er closer to the divinity and ability of God. Here, we actually can encounter the progression of human self-importance, and although the subject area affair does not move away entirely from religious symbolism, man is increasingly the central ability inside the compositions.

New materials that glorify wealth and status like gilded and marble get the prized materials for sculptures. Opposites of lite and nighttime, warm and cold colors, and symbols of good and evil are emphasized beyond what is naturally occurring. Fine art academies increased in their numbers, as art became a style to display your wealth, power, and status.

Baroque ceiling frescoes of Cathedral in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Work of Italian main Giulio Quaglio in 1703–1706 and later 1721–1723;Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA iv.0, via Wikimedia Eatables

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 time. The proper name stems from the French word rocaille which means "shellwork". The solid forms which characterized the Baroque catamenia softened into calorie-free, air, and desire. Paintings of this era were no longer strong and powerful, but light and playful.

The colors were lighter and brighter, nigh transparent in some instances. Many pieces of 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 aristocracy of the time, the art of the Rococo catamenia is totally removed from the social reality. The shepherd's idyll became the theme of this period, representing life equally light and carefree, without the constraints of economical or social hardship.

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

Classicism, like the Rococo era, began in France in around 1770. In dissimilarity to the Rococo era, all the same, Classism reverted to before, more serious styles of artistic expression. Much like the Renaissance period, Classisim took inspiration from classic Roman and Greek art.

The fine art created in the Classicism era reverted to strict forms, two-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 Eatables

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

You lot can run into from the dates that this art era occurred at around the same time every bit Classicism. Romanticism is often seen equally an emotionally charged reaction to the stern nature of Classicism. In contrast 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 eye-phase. Around this time, people began to go hiking in an attempt to explore the natural world. Information technology was non, however, the true reality of the natural world which they intended to discover, but the way it fabricated them experience.

There is no tangible or precisely determinable style to the art of the Romanticism catamenia. English and French painters tended to focus on the effects of shadows and lights, while the art produced by German painters tended to accept more gravity of thought to them. The Romantic painters were oftentimes criticized and even mocked for their interpretation of the globe around them.

Realism (1850-1925): Objectivity over Subjectivity

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

These artists effort to testify the world, people, nature, and animals, equally they truly are. At that place is a focus on the "obligation of art into truth" as Gustave Courbet puts it.

Just every bit with Romanticism, Realism was not pop with everyone. The paintings are non particularly pleasing to the eye and some critics have commented that despite the creative person'south claims of realism, erotic scenes somehow miss the real eroticism. Goethe criticizes Realism, saying that art should be ideal, not realistic. Schiller too 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 often paint the Impressionist move every bit the beginning of the mod age. Impressionist art is said to have closed the book on classical music and other classical forms of art. Impressionism is also perhaps, after Cubism, one of the nearly easily recognizable art periods. Featuring artists similar Claude Monet and Vincent van Gough, Impressionism broke away from the smooth brush strokes and areas of solid colour that characterized many fine art periods before it.

Initially, the give-and-take Impressionism was like a swear word in the art world, with critics believing that these artists did not paint with technique, but rather simply smeared paint onto a canvas. The brushstrokes indeed were a significant deviation from those that came before them, sometimes condign furiously wild. Distinct shapes and lines disappeared into a whirlwind 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 only be recognized from a distance.

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

A significant alter that occurred during the Impressionist era was that painting began to take 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 globe were a result of this shift.

Impressionist artists also began to move away from the want to lecture and teach, preferring to create art for art'due south sake. Galleries and international exhibitions became increasingly important.

Symbolism (1890-1920): There is Always More Than Meets the Eye

During this period, the era of Symbolism began to accept concur 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 more often than not clear, a fact which art historians believe was anticipating the Art Nouveau era.

Art Nouveau (1890-1910): The Pure Gold of Gustav Klimt

Although Gustav Klimt was by no means the most of import artist in the Fine art Nouveau move, he is one of the nearly well-known. His mode perfectly encapsulates the Art Nouveau movement with soft, curved lines, lots of florals, and the stylistic label of human figures. In many countries, this style is known every bit the Secession mode.

The Kiss (1907-1908) by Gustav Klimt;Gustav Klimt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The fine 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 hold the decorative aspects against information technology. Through the art of the Art Nouveau menses, artists attempted to bring nature dorsum into industrial cities.

Expressionism (1890-1914): Bringing a Political Border to the Fence

In the Expressionism art era, we once more see a resurgence of the importance of the expression of subjective feelings. The artists within this movement were not interested in naturalism or what things await similar on the exterior. As a result, there is a certain tinge of aggression in some Expressionist paintings, which are often primitive and slightly wild.

Expressionism originated in Germany and is intended to contrast Impressionism. Towards the start of the Beginning World War, Expressionist paintings had a disturbing intensity almost them. Intended to criticize power and the standing social lodge, Expressionism spread these political ideas through the medium of paint. Art was first to become political.

Cubism (1906-1914): Breaking Things Apart and Putting Them Back Together Once more

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

Cubism was a rejection of all the rules of traditional western painting and has had a potent influence on the styles of art that accept followed information technology.

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

Futurism (1909-1945): Artistic Anarchism

Futurism is less of an creative manner and more of an artistically inspired political movement. Founded past Tommaso Marinetti'sFuturist Manifesto, which rejected social arrangement and Christian morality, the Futurist era was total of anarchy, 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, believing that everything that was passed through generations (beliefs, traditions, organized religion) was suspicious and dangerous. The militant nature of the Futurist motility has resulted in many people assertive that information technology was too close to fascism.

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

Dada ways a dandy many things and nothing at all. The writer Hugo Brawl discovered that this small word has several dissimilar meanings in different languages and at the same fourth dimension, as a word, information technology meant nothing at all. The Dadaism move is based on the concepts of illogic and provocation and was seen as not but an art motion, but an anti-war movement.

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

Dadaism represents the beginnings of activeness art in which painting becomes more just a portrait of reality, but rather an affiliation of the social, cultural, and subjective parts of existence man.

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

Equally if the pure illogic nature of the Dadaism motility was non outlandish plenty, the Surrealists took the dream world to exist the fountain of all truth. I of the most famous Surrealist artists is Salvador Dali, and you are bound to know his painting Melting Watch (1954).

Surrealism is fundamentally psychoanalytical, and many Surrealist artists would paint directly 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 y'all can imagine, this manner of art was not popular when it began, but it has profoundly influenced the world of mod fine art.

Infinite and time (in homage to L.Five. Beethoven) (1974) by Italian painter William Girometti;William Girometti, CC BY-SA iii.0, via Wikimedia Eatables

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

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

The images represented in New Objectivity were often cold, unemotional, and technical, with some favorite subjects being the radio and lightbulbs. As is the case with many mod movements in art, at that place were several unlike wings to the New Objectivity move.

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

Abstract Expressionism is said to be the first art movement to originate exterior of Europe. Emerging from Northward America, Abstruse Expressionism focused on color-field painting and activity paintings. Rather than using a sheet and a brush, buckets of paint would be poured on the footing, and artists used their fingers to create images.

With well-known artists similar Marc Tobey and Jackson Pollock, this art motion was distinct from whatever that came earlier it. The application of the paint was sometimes so thick that the finished piece would have on a form unlike any painting before it. Abstract Expressionism spread throughout Europe. As with all art, there are e'er critics, with conservative Americans during the cold war calling it "un-American."

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

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

A item of Roy Lichtenstein'southward Wall Explosion II, 1965; Colin McLaughlin, CC By-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Neo-Expressionism (1980-1989): Mod Art

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

Art is a cardinal part of what it means to be human. Many of the troubles and joys we feel can simply exist captured accurately through artistic expression. Nosotros hope that this short summary of the art periods timeline has helped you lot gain some more insight into the contexts surrounding some of the most famous works of art created by the man race.

We've also created a spider web story nigh art periods.

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