Art of Europe

Ancient

Minoan

The Minoan civilization of Crete is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe. Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional artistry. Sinclair Hood described an "essential quality of the finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions". It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art, and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art. Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are pottery, intricately carved Minoan seals, palace frescos (which include landscapes), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork.

The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later Ancient Greek art has been much discussed. It clearly dominated Mycenaean art and Cycladic art of the same periods, even after the Mycenaeans occupied Crete, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece.

Minoan art encompasses a variety of subject matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some pottery styles include figurative scenes. Bull-leaping appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures are often tentative, with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy, or devotees. Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine.

Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the "Marine Style" is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including octopus spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes; sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and of horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market or for Mycenaean overlords of Crete.

While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with Ancient Egyptian art they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic. In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures. However, the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted. Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally. Still, the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts.

Classical Greek and Hellenistic

Ancient Greece had great painters, great sculptors, and great architects. The Parthenon is an example of their architecture that has endured into modern times. Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of Classical art. Painting on pottery of Ancient Greece and ceramics offers a particularly informative glimpse into how society in Ancient Greece functioned. Black-figure vase painting and Red-figure vase painting provide many surviving examples of what Greek painting was like. Some famous Greek wood panel painters mentioned in texts are Apelles, Zeuxis and Parrhasius. No examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive, only written descriptions by their contemporaries or by later Romans. Zeuxis lived in 5–6 BC and was said to be the first to use sfumato. According to Pliny the Elder, the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes. Apelles is described as the greatest painter of Antiquity for perfect technique in drawing, brilliant color, and modeling.

Roman

Roman art was influenced by Greece and can, in part, be seen as a descendant of ancient Greek painting and sculpture, but was also strongly influenced by the more local Etruscan art of Italy. Roman sculpture is primarily portraiture of the upper classes, as well as depictions of the gods. However, Roman painting does have important, unique characteristics. Among surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings, many from villas in Campania, in Southern Italy, especially at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Such painting can be grouped into four main "styles" or periods and may contain the first examples of trompe-l'œil, pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape.

Almost all of the surviving painted portraits from the Ancient world are a large number of coffin-portraits of bust form found in the Late Antique cemetery of Al-Fayum. They give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had. A very small number of miniatures from Late Antique illustrated books also survive, and a rather larger number of copies of them from the early medieval period. Early Christian art grew out of Roman popular, and later Imperial, art and adapted its iconography from these sources.

Medieval

Most surviving art from the medieval period was religious in focus, often funded by the Church, powerful ecclesiastical individuals such as bishops, communal groups such as abbeys, or wealthy secular patrons. Many had specific liturgical functions—processional crosses and altarpieces, for example.

One of the central questions about medieval art concerns its lack of realism. A great deal of knowledge of perspective in art and understanding of the human figure was lost with the fall of Rome. But realism was not the primary concern of medieval artists. They were trying to convey a religious message, a task that demands clear, iconic images rather than precise renderings.

Time Period: 6th century to 15th century

Early medieval art

Migration period art is a general term for the art of the "barbarian" peoples who moved into formerly Roman territories. In the British Isles, Celtic art in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo-Saxons, forming what is called the Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art, which became highly influential on the rest of the Middle Ages. The Franks developed Merovingian art until about 800, when Carolingian art combined insular influences with a self-conscious classical revival, developing into Ottonian art. Anglo-Saxon art is the art of England after the Insular period. Illuminated manuscripts contain nearly all the surviving paintings of the period, but architecture, metalwork, and small carved work in wood or ivory were also important media.

Byzantine

Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730-843, when the vast majority of artwork with figures was destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding. From 843 to 1453, there is a clear Byzantine art tradition. It is often the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of the quality of materials and artistry, with production centered in Constantinople. Byzantine art's crowning achievement was the monumental frescoes and mosaics in domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the conversion of churches into mosques.

Romanesque

Romanesque art refers to the period from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th century. This was a period of increasing prosperity, and the first to see a coherent style used across Europe, from Scandinavia to Sicily. Romanesque art is vigorous and direct, was originally brightly coloured, and is often very sophisticated. Stained glass and enamel on metalwork became important media, and larger sculptures in the round developed, although high relief was the principal technique. Its architecture is dominated by thick walls, and round-headed windows and arches, with much carved decoration.

Gothic

Gothic art is a variable term depending on the craft, place, and time. The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140, but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 (this date has many qualifications), when it diverged from Romanesque style. Gothic sculpture was born in France in 1144 with the renovation of the Abbey Church of S. Denis and spread throughout Europe, by the 13th century it had become the international style, replacing Romanesque. International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430, after which Gothic art merges into Renaissance art at different times in different places. During this period, forms such as painting, in fresco and on panel, become newly important, and the period ends with new media such as prints.

Renaissance

The Renaissance is characterized by a focus on the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome, which led to many changes in both the technical aspects of painting and sculpture and in their subject matter. It began in Italy, a country rich in Roman heritage and material prosperity to fund artists. During the Renaissance, painters began to enhance the realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective, thus representing three dimensions more authentically. Artists also began to use new techniques in manipulating light and shadow, such as the tonal contrast evident in many of Titian's portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci. Sculptors, too, began to rediscover many ancient techniques such as contrapposto. Following the humanist spirit of the age, art became more secular in subject matter, depicting ancient mythology alongside Christian themes. This genre of art is often referred to as Renaissance Classicism. In the North, the most important Renaissance innovation was the widespread use of oil paints, which allowed for greater colour and intensity.

From Gothic to the Renaissance

During the late 13th century and early 14th century, much of the painting in Italy was Byzantine in character, notably that of Duccio of Siena and Cimabue of Florence, while Pietro Cavallini in Rome was more Gothic in style. During the 13th century, Italian sculptors began to draw inspiration not only from medieval prototypes, but also from ancient works.

In 1290, Giotto began painting in a manner that was less traditional and more based upon observation of nature. His famous cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, is seen as the beginning of a Renaissance style.

Other painters of the 14th century carried the Gothic style to great elaboration and detail. Notable among these painters are Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano.

In the Netherlands, the technique of painting in oils rather than tempera, lent itself to a form of elaboration that was not dependent upon the application of gold leaf and embossing, but upon the minute depiction of the natural world. The art of painting textures with great realism evolved at this time. Dutch painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes were to have a great influence on Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting.

Early Renaissance

The ideas of the Renaissance first emerged in the city-state of Florence, Italy. The sculptor Donatello returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like the unsupported nude—his second sculpture of David was the first free-standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire. The sculptor and architect Brunelleschi studied the architectural ideas of ancient Roman buildings for inspiration. Masaccio perfected elements like composition, individual expression, and human form to paint frescoes, especially those in the Brancacci Chapel, of surprising elegance, drama, and emotion.

A remarkable number of these major artists worked on different portions of the Florence Cathedral. Brunelleschi's dome for the cathedral was one of the first truly revolutionary architectural innovations since the Gothic flying buttress. Donatello created many of its sculptures. Giotto and Lorenzo Ghiberti also contributed to the cathedral.

High Renaissance

High Renaissance artists include such figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raffaello Sanzio.

The 15th-century artistic developments in Italy (for example, the interest in perspectival systems, in depicting anatomy, and in classical cultures) matured during the 16th century, accounting for the designations "Early Renaissance" for the 15th century and "High Renaissance" for the 16th century. Although no singular style characterizes the High Renaissance, the art of those most closely associated with this period—Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian—exhibits an astounding mastery, both technical and aesthetic. High Renaissance artists created works of such authority that generations of later artists relied on these artworks for instruction. These exemplary artistic creations further elevated artists' prestige. Artists could claim divine inspiration, thereby raising visual art to a status once reserved for poetry. Thus, painters, sculptors, and architects came into their own, successfully claiming a high position for their work among the fine arts. In a sense, 16th- century masters created a new profession with its own rights of expression and its own venerable character.

Northern art up to the Renaissance

Early Netherlandish painting developed (but did not strictly invent) the technique of oil painting to allow greater control in painting minute detail with realism—Jan van Eyck (1366–1441) was a figure in the movement from illuminated manuscripts to panel paintings.

Hieronymus Bosch (1450?–1516), a Dutch painter, is another important figure in the Northern Renaissance. He used religious themes, but combined them with grotesque fantasies, colorful imagery, and peasant folk legends. His paintings often reflect the confusion and anguish associated with the end of the Middle Ages.

Albrecht Dürer introduced Italian Renaissance style to Germany at the end of the 15th century, and dominated German Renaissance art.

Time Period:

• Italian Renaissance: Late 14th century to Early 16th century
• Northern Renaissance: 16th century

Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo

In European art, Renaissance Classicism gave rise to two movements—Mannerism and the Baroque. Mannerism, a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism, employed distortions of light and spatial frameworks to emphasize the emotional content of a painting and the emotions of the painter. The work of El Greco is a particularly clear example of Mannerism in painting during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Northern Mannerism took longer to develop and was largely a movement of the last half of the 16th century. Baroque art took the representationalism of the Renaissance to new heights, emphasizing detail, movement, lighting, and drama in its search for beauty. Perhaps the best known Baroque painters are Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, and Diego Velázquez.

A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting, which had very little religious art, and little history painting, instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life, genre paintings of everyday scenes, and landscape painting. While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less useful for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories.

Baroque art is often seen as part of the Counter-Reformation—the artistic element of the revival of spiritual life in the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, the emphasis that Baroque art placed on grandeur is seen as Absolutist in nature. Religious and political themes were widely explored within the Baroque artistic context, and a strong element of drama, emotion, and theatricality characterised both paintings and sculptures. Famous Baroque artists include Caravaggio or Rubens. Artemisia Gentileschi was another noteworthy artist, who was inspired by Caravaggio's style. Baroque art was particularly ornate and elaborate, often using rich, warm colours with dark undertones. Pomp and grandeur were important elements of the Baroque artistic movement in general, as can be seen in Louis XIV 's saying, "I am grandeur incarnate"; many Baroque artists served kings who sought to realize this goal. Baroque art, in many ways, was similar to Renaissance art; in fact, the term was initially used in a derogatory manner to describe post-Renaissance art and architecture that was over-elaborate. Baroque art can be seen as a more elaborate and dramatic re-adaptation of late Renaissance art.

By the 18th century, however, Baroque art was falling out of fashion as many deemed it too melodramatic and gloomy, and it gave way to the Rococo, which emerged in France. Rococo art was even more elaborate than the Baroque, but it was less serious and more playful. Whilst the Baroque used rich, strong colours, Rococo used pale, creamier shades. The artistic movement no longer emphasized politics and religion, focusing instead on lighter themes such as romance, celebration, and the appreciation of nature. Rococo art also contrasted with the Baroque as it often refused symmetry in favor of asymmetrical designs. Furthermore, it drew inspiration from the artistic forms and ornamentation of Far Eastern Asia, leading to a rise in favour of porcelain figurines and chinoiserie in general. The 18th-century style flourished for a short while; nevertheless, the Rococo style soon fell out of favor, being seen by many as a gaudy and superficial movement emphasizing aesthetics over meaning. Neoclassicism in many ways developed as a counter-movement to the Rococo, the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter's florid qualities.

Mannerism (16th century)

Baroque (early 17th century to mid-early 18th century)

Rococo (early to mid-18th century)

Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Academism, and Realism

Throughout the 18th century, a counter movement opposing the Rococo sprang up in different parts of Europe, commonly known as Neoclassicism. It despised the perceived superficiality and frivolity of Rococo art, and desired a return to the simplicity, order, and 'purism' of classical antiquity, especially ancient Greece and Rome. The movement was also, in part, influenced by the Renaissance, which itself was strongly influenced by classical art. Neoclassicism was the artistic component of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment; the Enlightenment was idealistic and put its emphasis on objectivity, reason, and empirical truth. Neoclassicism had become widespread in Europe throughout the 18th century, especially in the United Kingdom, which saw great works of Neoclassical architecture spring up during this period; Neoclassicism's fascination with classical antiquity can be seen in the popularity of the Grand Tour during this decade, where wealthy aristocrats travelled to the ancient ruins of Italy and Greece. Nevertheless, a defining moment for Neoclassicism came during the French Revolution in the late 18th century; in France, Rococo art was replaced with the preferred Neoclassical art, which was seen as more serious than the former movement. In many ways, Neoclassicism can be seen as both a political and an artistic and cultural movement. Neoclassical art emphasizes order, symmetry, and classical simplicity; common themes in Neoclassical art include courage and war, as were commonly explored in ancient Greek and Roman art. Ingres, Canova, and Jacques-Louis David are among the best-known neoclassicists.

Just as Mannerism rejected Classicism, so did Romanticism reject the ideas of the Enlightenment and the aesthetic of the Neoclassicists. Romanticism rejected the highly objective and ordered nature of Neoclassicism and opted for a more individual and emotional approach to the arts. Romanticism emphasized nature, especially when aiming to portray the power and beauty of the natural world, and emotions, and sought a highly personal approach to art. Romantic art was about individual feelings, not common themes, unlike Neoclassicism; in this way, Romantic art often used colour to express feelings and emotion. Similarly to Neoclassicism, Romantic art took much of its inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art and mythology, yet, unlike Neoclassicism, this inspiration was primarily used as a way to create symbolism and imagery. Romantic art also takes much of its aesthetic qualities from medievalism and Gothicism, as well as mythology and folklore. Among the greatest Romantic artists were Eugène Delacroix, Francisco Goya, J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich, Thomas Cole, and William Blake.

Most artists adopted a centrist approach, incorporating elements of Neoclassical and Romantic styles to synthesize them. The different attempts took place within the French Academy and are collectively called Academic art. Adolphe William Bouguereau is considered a chief example of this stream of art.

In the early 19th century, the face of Europe was, however, radically altered by industrialization. Poverty, squalor, and desperation were to be the fate of the new working class created by the "revolution". In response to these changes going on in society, the movement of Realism emerged. Realism sought to accurately portray the conditions and hardships of the poor in the hopes of changing society. In contrast with Romanticism, which was essentially optimistic about humanity, Realism offered a stark vision of poverty and despair. Similarly, while Romanticism glorified nature, Realism portrayed life in the depths of an urban wasteland. Like Romanticism, Realism was a literary as well as an artistic movement. The great Realist painters include Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, Honoré Daumier, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas (both considered as Impressionists), and Thomas Eakins, among others.

The response of architecture to industrialisation, in stark contrast to the other arts, was to veer towards historicism. Although the railway stations built during this period are often considered the truest reflections of its spirit – they are sometimes called "the cathedrals of the age" – the main movements in architecture during the Industrial Age were revivals of styles from the distant past, such as the Gothic Revival. Related movements included the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who sought to return art to its "purity" before Raphael, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, which reacted against the impersonality of mass-produced goods and advocated a return to medieval craftsmanship.

Time Period:

• Neoclassicism: mid-early 18th century to early 19th century
• Romanticism: late 18th century to mid-19th century
• Realism: 19th century

Modern art

Out of the naturalist ethic of Realism grew a major artistic movement, Impressionism. The Impressionists pioneered the use of light in painting, attempting to capture it as seen by the human eye. Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, were all involved in the Impressionist movement. As a direct outgrowth of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism developed. Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat are the best known Post-Impressionists.

Following the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists came Fauvism, often considered the first "modern" genre of art. Just as the Impressionists revolutionized light, so did the Fauvists rethink color, painting their canvases in bright, wild hues. After the Fauvists, modern art began to develop in all its forms, ranging from Expressionism, concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art, to Cubism, the art of transposing a four-dimensional reality onto a flat canvas, to Abstract art. These new art forms pushed the limits of traditional notions of "art" and corresponded to the rapid changes taking place in human society, technology, and thought.

Surrealism is often classified as a form of Modern Art. However, the Surrealists themselves have objected to the study of surrealism as an era in art history, claiming that it oversimplifies the complexity of the movement (which they say is not an artistic movement), misrepresents the relationship of surrealism to aesthetics, and falsely characterizes ongoing surrealism as a finished, historically encapsulated era. Other forms of Modern art (some of which border on Contemporary art) include:

• Abstract expressionism
• Art Deco
• Art Nouveau
• Bauhaus
• Color Field painting
• Conceptual Art
• Constructivism
• Cubism
• Dada
• Der Blaue Reiter
• De Stijl
• Die Brücke
• Body art
• Expressionism
• Fauvism
• Fluxus
• Futurism
• Happening
• Surrealism
• Lettrisme
• Lyrical Abstraction
• Land art
• Minimalism
• Naive art
• Op art
• Performance art
• Photorealism
• Pop art
• Suprematism
• Video art
• Vorticism

Time Period:

• Impressionism: late 19th century
• Others: First half of the 20th century

Contemporary art and Postmodern art

Modern art foreshadowed several characteristics of what would later be defined as postmodern art; in fact, several modern art movements can often be classified as both modern and postmodern, such as pop art. Postmodern art, for instance, places a strong emphasis on irony, parody, and humour; modern art began to develop a more ironic approach, which would later advance in a postmodern context. Postmodern art blurs the boundaries between the high and fine arts and low-end and commercial art; modern art began experimenting with this blurring. Recent developments in art have been characterised by a significant expansion of what can now be deemed art, in terms of materials, media, activities, and concepts. Conceptual art in particular has had a wide influence. This started literally as the replacement of a concept for a made object, one of the intentions of which was to refute the commodification of art. However, it now usually refers to an artwork where there is an object, but the main claim for the work is made for the thought process that has informed it. The aspect of commercialism has returned to the work.

There has also been an increase in art that refers to previous movements and artists and gains validity from that reference.

Postmodernism in art, which has grown since the 1960s, differs from Modernism in that Modern art movements were primarily focused on their own activities and values. In contrast, Postmodernism draws on the whole range of previous movements as a reference point. This has, by definition, generated a relativistic outlook, accompanied by irony and a certain disbelief in values, as each can be seen to be replaced by another. Another result of this has been the growth of commercialism and celebrity. Postmodern art has questioned common rules and guidelines of what is regarded as 'fine art', merging low art with the fine arts until neither is fully distinguishable. Before the advent of postmodernism, the fine arts were characterised by a form of aesthetic quality, elegance, craftsmanship, finesse and intellectual stimulation which was intended to appeal to the upper or educated classes; this distinguished high art from low art, which, in turn, was seen as tacky, kitsch, easily made and lacking in much or any intellectual stimulation, art which was intended to appeal to the masses. Postmodern art blurred these distinctions, bringing a strong element of kitsch, commercialism, and campness into contemporary fine art; what is nowadays seen as fine art may have been seen as low art before postmodernism revolutionised the concept of what high or fine art truly is. In addition, the postmodern nature of contemporary art leaves a lot of space for individualism within the art scene; for instance, postmodern art often takes inspiration from past artistic movements, such as Gothic or Baroque art, and both juxtaposes and recycles styles from these past periods in a different context.

Some surrealists in particular Joan Miró, who called for the "murder of painting" (In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods and his desire to "kill", "murder", or "rape" them in favor of more contemporary means of expression) have denounced or attempted to "supersede" painting, and there have also been other anti-painting trends among artistic movements, such as that of Dada and conceptual art. The trend away from painting in the late 20th century has been countered by various movements, for example the continuation of Minimal Art, Lyrical Abstraction, Pop Art, Op Art, New Realism, Photorealism, Neo Geo, Neo-expressionism, New European Painting, Stuckism, Excessivism and various other important and influential painterly directions.