Brush Up on Your Knowledge of Art and Art History
Do you know your Impressionism from Expressionism, or your Symbolism from Surrealism? This art guide will help
Rebecca Gross
9 March 2017
Design writer and historian. I write about contemporary architecture and design, and I study cultural history through the lens of architecture, design and visual culture. I have a Masters in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons The New School for Design, New York. My latest book is called "Ornament is not a crime: Contemporary Interiors with a postmodern twist."
Design writer and historian. I write about contemporary architecture and design,... More
Works of art can bring a lot of things to a space: depth, history, colour, texture, personality, interest and focal points. The list goes on. But the style of that artwork can create a very different look and feel in a room. Every period in history gives birth to a new style of art that is reflective of the culture at that time. From Impressionism to contemporary art, each style has its own meaning and characteristics that helps us understand more about the era from which it was borne. So as we survey some of the major artistic movements from the late-19th century to today, this guide will help you bring your knowledge of art and art history up to speed.
Impressionism
Impressionist art captures an image or scene as if someone just caught a glimpse of it. The style developed in France during the late 19th century, when a group of artists attempted to accurately recreate the transient effects of light and colour.
Impressionism marked a break from the European tradition of painting, as artists referred to scientific research to achieve a more exact representation of colour and tone. They used a lot of bright and vibrant colour, applying it in small and broken touches rather than broader strokes.
Impressionist art captures an image or scene as if someone just caught a glimpse of it. The style developed in France during the late 19th century, when a group of artists attempted to accurately recreate the transient effects of light and colour.
Impressionism marked a break from the European tradition of painting, as artists referred to scientific research to achieve a more exact representation of colour and tone. They used a lot of bright and vibrant colour, applying it in small and broken touches rather than broader strokes.
Impressionist artworks emphasised the artist’s perception of the subject matter as much as the subject itself. Artists such as Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted outdoor scenes, which they rendered outside in order to capture fleeting impressions of colour and light.
Meanwhile, Edgar Degas created a large number of works depicting ballerinas from the Paris Opera. He combined the vivid rendering with the classical tradition of old masters.
Pictured: ‘Dancers in Blue’ by Degas
Meanwhile, Edgar Degas created a large number of works depicting ballerinas from the Paris Opera. He combined the vivid rendering with the classical tradition of old masters.
Pictured: ‘Dancers in Blue’ by Degas
Post Impressionism
Post Impressionism followed Impressionism in the late-19th century, and was both an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of its limitations.
See spaces designed for art lovers
Post Impressionism followed Impressionism in the late-19th century, and was both an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of its limitations.
See spaces designed for art lovers
Painters such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec abandoned Impressionism to each form their own highly personal art. They rejected the objective recording of nature in favour of a more ambitious expression, yet retained the pure and brilliant colours, short brushstrokes and freedom of subject matter.
Pictured: ‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh
Pictured: ‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh
Symbolism
Symbolism flourished in the decades around the turn of the 20th century and showed a preference for exploring feeling, rather than giving a literal representation. Artists created more suggestive and evocative works to convey their ideas and emotions, with a fascination for the mystical, visionary, erotic and debaucherous.
Symbolism flourished in the decades around the turn of the 20th century and showed a preference for exploring feeling, rather than giving a literal representation. Artists created more suggestive and evocative works to convey their ideas and emotions, with a fascination for the mystical, visionary, erotic and debaucherous.
Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt and Aubrey Beardsley were some of the leading Symbolist painters. ‘The Kiss’ (above) by Klimt was one of a number of works that he painted in a gilded style with applied layers of gold leaf for a strikingly modern, yet evocative appearance. ‘The Park’ (left) uses the pointillism technique, which is more commonly associated with Post Impressionism, with a solid mass of foliage and a small strip of grass and tree trunks at the bottom of the painting.
Pictured: ‘The Kiss’ (above) and ‘The Park’ (left) by Klimt
Pictured: ‘The Kiss’ (above) and ‘The Park’ (left) by Klimt
Cubism
The Cubist art movement began in Paris in the early 1900s and was conceived as a new way of representing the world; one that attempted to show objects as the mind, not the eye, perceives them. Cubist artists rejected the single viewpoint in favour of fragmenting and rearranging three-dimensional subjects into abstract form, in order to offer different viewpoints simultaneously.
What we can learn from art collectors
The Cubist art movement began in Paris in the early 1900s and was conceived as a new way of representing the world; one that attempted to show objects as the mind, not the eye, perceives them. Cubist artists rejected the single viewpoint in favour of fragmenting and rearranging three-dimensional subjects into abstract form, in order to offer different viewpoints simultaneously.
What we can learn from art collectors
Pablo Picasso was a leading proponent of Cubism and he pioneered the movement with Georges Braque. He is also credited with inventing constructed sculpture contributing to the collage art style.
Pictured: ‘Woman Asleep in Armchair’ by Picasso (above); an original Picasso (left)
Pictured: ‘Woman Asleep in Armchair’ by Picasso (above); an original Picasso (left)
Expressionism
Expressionist artists attempted to depict their subjective emotions and responses to objects and events rather than objective reality. The movement first surfaced in literature in the early 20th century, when distortion and exaggeration were used for emotional effect. This translated into art with intense colour, agitated brushstrokes and disjointed space.
Expressionism is highly subjective and a personal, spontaneous self-expression. Artists did not want to reproduce the impression suggested by the surrounding world, but to strongly impose their own sensibility on its representation.
Expressionist artists attempted to depict their subjective emotions and responses to objects and events rather than objective reality. The movement first surfaced in literature in the early 20th century, when distortion and exaggeration were used for emotional effect. This translated into art with intense colour, agitated brushstrokes and disjointed space.
Expressionism is highly subjective and a personal, spontaneous self-expression. Artists did not want to reproduce the impression suggested by the surrounding world, but to strongly impose their own sensibility on its representation.
Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky sought to convey spirituality and human emotion through a visual language of abstract forms and colours. He viewed music as the most transcendent form of non-objective art and produced paintings that sought to allude to sounds and emotions.
Pictured: ‘Yellow-Red-Blue’ by Kandinsky
Pictured: ‘Yellow-Red-Blue’ by Kandinsky
Suprematism
Kazimir Malevich founded the Russian art movement Suprematism in the 1910s. It was revolutionary, non-objective art that rejected the representational world. Malevich used flat geometric shapes and a limited palette of pure colours.
Pictured: ‘Black Square and Red Square’ and ‘Suprematism: Self-Portrait in Two Dimensions’ by Malevich
Kazimir Malevich founded the Russian art movement Suprematism in the 1910s. It was revolutionary, non-objective art that rejected the representational world. Malevich used flat geometric shapes and a limited palette of pure colours.
Pictured: ‘Black Square and Red Square’ and ‘Suprematism: Self-Portrait in Two Dimensions’ by Malevich
De Stijl
The Dutch art movement De Stijl similarly advocated pure abstraction and simplicity with forms reduced to simple geometric shapes, and colour distilled to primary colours along with black and white.
Pictured: ‘Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow’ and ‘Composition with Yellow, Red, and Blue’ by Piet Mondrian
The Dutch art movement De Stijl similarly advocated pure abstraction and simplicity with forms reduced to simple geometric shapes, and colour distilled to primary colours along with black and white.
Pictured: ‘Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow’ and ‘Composition with Yellow, Red, and Blue’ by Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian was the group’s leading figure, along with Theo van Doesburg and Gerrit Rietveld. He radically simplified elements to reflect what he saw as the spiritual order underlying the visible world. In doing so he created an aesthetic that consisted of vertical and horizontal lines and blocks of red, blue and yellow. It is an aesthetic that has been adapted, appropriated, rearranged and applied to other artworks, objects, architecture and even fashion.
Ideas that pay homage to Piet Mondrian
Ideas that pay homage to Piet Mondrian
Surrealism
Like so many of the styles that went before it, Surrealism was a literary and art movement. Artists expressed their imagination free of reason and convention. Surrealism was shaped by emerging theories on the subconscious and perceptions of reality, with some of the major artists being Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Joan Miró.
Pictured: ‘The Son of Man’ by Magritte
Like so many of the styles that went before it, Surrealism was a literary and art movement. Artists expressed their imagination free of reason and convention. Surrealism was shaped by emerging theories on the subconscious and perceptions of reality, with some of the major artists being Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Joan Miró.
Pictured: ‘The Son of Man’ by Magritte
Gouaches Découpés
Henri Matisse was a leading figure of Fauvism in the early 20th century, which saw artists use intense and vivid colour as a means of communicating their emotional state. Matisse had health problems later in life, which left him confined to a wheelchair, but did not dampen his creative expression. With assistance, he created bold and colourful cut-paper collages called gouaches découpés. He called it “painting with scissors”.
Henri Matisse was a leading figure of Fauvism in the early 20th century, which saw artists use intense and vivid colour as a means of communicating their emotional state. Matisse had health problems later in life, which left him confined to a wheelchair, but did not dampen his creative expression. With assistance, he created bold and colourful cut-paper collages called gouaches découpés. He called it “painting with scissors”.
Pictured: ‘Blue Nude II’ (above) and ‘Le Gerbe’ (left) by Matisse. Also pictured: ‘Blue Monochrome’ by Yves Klein (above).
11 ways with Yves Klein blue
11 ways with Yves Klein blue
Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism emerged in the 1940s and ’50s in New York City, with key figures such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning leading the charge.
Abstract Expressionist paintings are often on massive canvases, with sprawling and spontaneous brushstrokes, paint splatters and textures that embrace the idea of chance. This freedom of individual expression is intended to convey powerful emotions by glorifying the act of painting itself.
Abstract Expressionism emerged in the 1940s and ’50s in New York City, with key figures such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning leading the charge.
Abstract Expressionist paintings are often on massive canvases, with sprawling and spontaneous brushstrokes, paint splatters and textures that embrace the idea of chance. This freedom of individual expression is intended to convey powerful emotions by glorifying the act of painting itself.
Pop Art
Pop Art reflected the optimism, affluence, materialism, leisure and consumption of post-war society. It flourished in the mid-1950s and ’60s in Britain and America, when artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Hamilton created works inspired by everyday life.
These artists translated their fascination with popular culture into vivid artworks by using imagery and techniques drawn from mass media and mass culture. With saturated colours and bold outlines, they transformed commonplace objects, such as soup cans and washing powder, into icons; and transformed celebrity icons into everyday images.
Pop Art reflected the optimism, affluence, materialism, leisure and consumption of post-war society. It flourished in the mid-1950s and ’60s in Britain and America, when artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Hamilton created works inspired by everyday life.
These artists translated their fascination with popular culture into vivid artworks by using imagery and techniques drawn from mass media and mass culture. With saturated colours and bold outlines, they transformed commonplace objects, such as soup cans and washing powder, into icons; and transformed celebrity icons into everyday images.
Warhol created several images of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Jackie Onassis. He also created the Endangered Species series with 10 silkscreen prints of a select group of species that were endangered at the time: Grevy’s zebra, the bald eagle, black rhino, African elephant, bighorn ram, giant panda, orangutan, Pine Barrens tree frog, Siberian tiger and San Francisco silverspot butterfly.
Pictured: ‘Marilyn’ (above) and ‘Grevy’s Zebra’ (left) by Warhol
15 ways to use Pop Art at home
Pictured: ‘Marilyn’ (above) and ‘Grevy’s Zebra’ (left) by Warhol
15 ways to use Pop Art at home
Graffiti art
Graffiti art was named after the spray-can vandalism and tagging in the 1970s and ’80s. In New York, the subway system doubled as a means of communication for graffiti artists and spurred artistic innovation and self expression. Inspired by what they saw, artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, transformed graffiti into a bona-fide art movement, with works soon gracing gallery walls and art collectors’ homes.
Pictured: ‘Statue of Liberty’ and ‘Pop Shop Quad II’ by Haring
Graffiti art was named after the spray-can vandalism and tagging in the 1970s and ’80s. In New York, the subway system doubled as a means of communication for graffiti artists and spurred artistic innovation and self expression. Inspired by what they saw, artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, transformed graffiti into a bona-fide art movement, with works soon gracing gallery walls and art collectors’ homes.
Pictured: ‘Statue of Liberty’ and ‘Pop Shop Quad II’ by Haring
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, colour and line to create compositions that do not attempt to represent any accurate depiction of a visual reality.
Abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, colour and line to create compositions that do not attempt to represent any accurate depiction of a visual reality.
- Abstract art has existed in various forms since the late 1800s. This painting is by Charles Arnoldi, an American artist known for his brightly coloured abstract paintings that incorporate the use of wood as an expressive medium.
Australian Indigenous art
Art has always been an important part of Australian Indigenous life, and is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world beginning with rock carvings, body painting and ground designs. Using a range of mediums, such as paper, canvas, fibre, glass and ceramics, the variety of contemporary Aboriginal art reflects the richness and diversity of the culture and its tribes, languages, dialects and landscapes.
Art has always been an important part of Australian Indigenous life, and is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world beginning with rock carvings, body painting and ground designs. Using a range of mediums, such as paper, canvas, fibre, glass and ceramics, the variety of contemporary Aboriginal art reflects the richness and diversity of the culture and its tribes, languages, dialects and landscapes.
The Western Desert Art Movement has seen a large increase in art centres across the Western Desert region in recent decades. The first Western Desert Art paintings transformed the established form of rock painting and sand drawings into a new medium, which became more free flowing and colourful and less formal in the 1990s. Artists use iconography to portray the meanings of their paintings, while also embodying a metaphorical story.
Meet the Aboriginal women forging a new design identity
Meet the Aboriginal women forging a new design identity
Contemporary art
Contemporary art is that which is produced at the present period in time. This painting is by Richard Roblin, a Canadian contemporary artist. He uses form and colour to create a sense of luminosity and reveal the sense of joy that inspires his work.
Contemporary art is that which is produced at the present period in time. This painting is by Richard Roblin, a Canadian contemporary artist. He uses form and colour to create a sense of luminosity and reveal the sense of joy that inspires his work.
Andrew O’Brien is a Melbourne-based artist who creates vivid large-scale works, with many layers of paint for an incredible depth of colour and intense and textural quality.
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Great article. The last point is particularly well made - that 'Contemporary Art' is that which is produced at the present period in time.
We do find there's a tendency for this to be confused with 'Modern Art', which is in fact from entirely a different era.
For those who'd like to know more, we tried to clarify the difference in a past blog post linked here: https://www.signarture.com.au/blogs/news/55185029-modern-and-contemporary-in-art-and-design
Is there a reason why you haven't name the artist of the indigenous art work pictured?