art in the last 588 years

The most remarkable artworks were perhaps produced in the last 588 years. I am moving my time pointer back to 1420 to look at how the human culture evolved since then.

1420-1610 Renaissance

• renaissance means “rebirth” in French
• themes include closeness to nature, and beauty of the human nature

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (Renaissance in Italy)

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti (Renaissance in Italy)

Sistine Madonna by Raphael Sanzio (High Renaissance in Italy)

Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time by Angolo Bronzino (Mannerism In Italy)

Laocoon by El Greco (Mannerism in Spain)

Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Renaissance in the Netherlands and Belgium)

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder (Renaissance in Germany)

1600-1740 Baroque

• baroque was possibly derived from a Portuguese term used to describe erratic shape, and until the late 19th century it was mainly used as a synonym for ‘absurd’
• themes include grandeur, drama, vitality, tension, pathos, emotional exuberance

The Calling of Saint Matthew by Carravaggio (Baroque in Italy)

Embarkation of the Queen Sheba by Claude Lorrain (Baroque in France)

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus by Peter Paul Rubens (Baroque in Flanders)

The Girl with the Pearl Earrings by Jan Vermeer (Baroque in the Netherlands)

The Toilet of Venus by Diego Velazquez (Baroque in Spain)

1700-1770 18th Century: Rococo

• rococo means ‘stone’ in French
• themes include playfulness, aristocrats, leisure, mythological narratives

The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard (Rococo in France)

1750-1800 18th Century: Neoclassicism

• neoclassicism was related to the political circumstances in France
• themes include historical events, religious and mythological subjects

Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine by Jacques-Louis David (Neoclassicism in France)

1600-1890 18th Century: Japanese Prints

• theme includes ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e woodblock print in Japan

1780-1850 Romanticism

• themes include strong emotions, such as trepidation, horror, awe

The Fighting "Temeraire" Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up by J.M.W. Turner (Romanticism in England)

1850-1900 Realism and Naturalism

• theme includes everyday life without embellishment or interpretation, realistic objects in a natural setting

Bargemen on the Volga by Ilya Repin (Realism in Russia)

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Edouard Manet (Late Realism in France)

1860-1900 Impressionism

• impressionism is derived from the title of Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise
• themes include ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles

The Dance Foyer at the Opera by Edgar Degas (Impressionism in France)

Le Déjeuner des canotiers by Auguste Renoir (Impressionism in France)

Venice Twilight by Claude Monet (Impressionism in France)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by George Seurat (Impressionism in France)

1860-1900 Post-Impressionism

• themes include continuation of Impressionism, individual and subjective expression

At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Post-Impressionism in France)

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (Post-Impressionism in France)

1850-1900 Symbolism

• themes include spirituality, imagination, dreams

The Scream by Edvard Munch (Symbolism in Norway)

1880-1920 Art Nouveau

• art nouveau means ‘new art’ in French
• themes include organic, floral and other plant-inspired motifs, highly-stylized, flowing curvilinear forms

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt (Art Nouveau in Austria)

1898-1908 Fauvism

• fauvism mean ‘wild beasts’ in French
• themes include wild brush work and strident colors, simplification and abstraction

La Dance by Henri Matisse (Fauvism in France)

1905-1940 Expressionism

• themes include expression of strong emotion, liberating colors, simplifying forms

Yellow, Red, Blue by Wassily Kandinsky (Expressionism in Germany)

1908-1920 Cubism

• themes include abstracted, broken up, analyzed, and reassembled, multitude of viewpoints, random angles, shallow ambiguous space

Tete de femme (Dora Maar) by Pablo Picasso (Cubism in France)

Monsters, Chimeras and Hybrids by Marc Chagall (Cubism in France)

1930-1940 Nouveau Réalisme

• nouveau réalisme means ‘new realism’ in French
• themes include bringing life and art closer together, collective singularity

Le Due Frida by Frida Kahlo (New Realism in Mexico)

1924-1950 Surrealism

• themes include surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non-sequitur

Golconde by Rene Magritte (Surrealism in Belgium)

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (Surrealism in Spain)

1945 – Abstract Expressionism

• themes include spontaneity, unconsciousness and the mind

Orange and Yellow by Mark Rothko (Abstract Expressionism in USA)

1950 – Pop Art

• themes include popular mass culture, paintwork and representational art

Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol (Pop Art in USA)

1960 – Op Art

• themes include optical illusion, movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns

Movement in Squares by Bridget Riley (Op Art in England)

many more …