DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL

ARTS IN WESTERN -
PAINTING
• The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though
disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-
19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and 
Classical modes of production, after which time more modern, abstract
 and conceptual forms gained favor.
• The canon of the western art has a varied and long-lived history. Throughout
the ages, artistic schools and modes of expression have been documented
and studied, giving us access to all the masterpieces we know and love today.
These eras and periods spanned anywhere from several hundreds of years to
mere decades, but each has been incredibly important in the development
of western art as a whole. This article is by no means an exhaustive list of
important periods, but hopefully, by sketching out the most influential
periods, we can begin to see the ongoing story of the history of western art.
 CONCEPT OF WESTERN ART
• The term 'Western art' largely describes the art of western Europe, but
is also used as a general category for forms of art that are now
geographically widespread but that have their roots in Europe.
• Art historians describe the history of Western art in terms of successive
periods and/or movements, including classical, medieval, Byzantine, 
Romanesque, Renaissance, baroque, rococo, neoclassicism, Romanticism
, realism, Impressionism, modernism and postmodernism. Definitions of
these periods are often debated, as it is impossible to pinpoint where they
begin and end, or to account for the wide array of art produced within
them. Nevertheless, such terms are indispensable in navigating the
complex history and stylistic shifts of Western art across time.
• Ancient Art
Referring to all the types of art around the
world created by ancient civilizations, from
Greece and Rome to India, China,
Mesopotamia and more, this era of art covers
every ancient, literate culture (as pre-literate
cultures fall under Prehistoric Art). Ancient Art
is less an ideological classification and more
one that revolves around specific time frames
for specific cultures.
• Medieval Art
Covering an extremely broad range of both time
and location, this category, unfolding over perhaps
one-thousand years of art in Europe (as well as
North Africa and the Middle East), this overarching
term has within it multiple classifications that
maintain the cohesion of the western canon.
Represented by distinct art styles of a variety of
regions becoming nations and cultures, the
Medieval era of western art was an incredibly
diverse and expansive period.
• The Renaissance
Emerging as its own distinctive movement
around the start of the 15th century,
Renaissance art (as well as other similar
developments in areas such as literature,
music, philosophy, and science) made itself
known as a creative force by blending new
scientific methods and knowledge with noble,
ancient traditions. Philosophies of equality
and freedom were being espoused at the time
and quickly spread around Europe, affecting
the populace and western art.
• The Baroque Era
Emerging around the beginning of the 17th
century, Baroque was a dynamic period utilizing
grandeur, exaggerated motion, and incisive details
in order to shock and awe its audience. Continuing
in the religious tradition, the Baroque era artists
were encouraged by the Catholic Church itself due
to the way it communicated spiritual and religious
themes. The era is characterized by a projection of
triumph, power, and control, and even the
architectural examples of this era are extremely
grand in nature.
• Neoclassicism
Drawing heavily upon the influences of the
ancients, this form emerged around the mid
18th century in Rome and quickly spread all
over Europe. The Neoclassicism characterized
itself by rediscovering Greco-Roman ideas and
spread throughout cultural outputs, from
everything from the visual arts, theatre and
music to literature and architecture as well.
• Romantic Era
Romanticism characterized Europe near the end of the 18th
century, with a ‘golden age’ between 1800 and 1850. The
emphasis on emotion and individualism brought highly intense
and personal subjectivity to western art, which caused the
Western canon to shift from the inspirational, godlike devotions
to the more immediate and personal self. Romanticism also was
characterized by revering nature itself more than any specific
subject, as well as its warm glorification of nostalgia.
CLASSIFICATION
OF WESTERN
PAINTING STYLES
• Modernism was a revolt
against the conservative values
of realism. The term
encompasses the activities and
output of those who felt the
“traditional” forms of art,
architecture, literature, religious
faith, social organization and
daily life were becoming
outdated in the new economic,
social and political conditions of
an emerging fully industrialized
world. A salient characteristic of
modernism is self-
consciousness.  
• Impressionism –  in the 19th
century, most critics hated and
ridiculed it. What was then
regarded as an unfinished and
rough painting style, is now
loved as being the impact of
light on nature filtered through
an artistic eye to show the rest
of us just what can be seen if
you know how to look properly.
• Photorealism Artists copy
photographs, often by
projecting them onto a canvas,
in order to accurately capture
precise details. It is the genre of
painting based on using the
camera and photographs to
gather information and then
from this information, creating
a painting that appears to be
very realistic like a photograph.
• Surrealism Surrealist
artworks feature the element of
surprise, unexpected
juxtapositions and non sequitur;
however, many Surrealist
artists and writers regard their
work as an expression of the
philosophical movement first
and foremost, with the works
being an artifact.
• Abstraction – is about
painting the essence of a
subject or your interpretation of
the subject rather than the
visible realistic details, while
still retaining an echo of
whatever it is that prompted
the initial idea (unlike a pure
abstract).
• Pop Art
Emerging in the UK in the middle of the 20th
century, Pop Art is a mass-movement that
intended to bring together popular culture with
high-culture and distribute it cheaply to as many
people as possible. Pop art is often characterized
as well by its uncanny ability to strip context
(and to have its contexts stripped) from a
variety of works in order to be used in unrelated
or isolated forms.
• Conceptual Art
Also considered Contemporary Art or Post-
Modern Art, this technique is the current norm
of the art world and is characterized by its
almost complete concern with the conceptual
and less about the traditional aesthetic and
material concerns of previous periods of art.
Installations can be created by anyone,
anywhere, utilizing basically anything, as long
as the concept is strictly adhered to. “The idea
becomes a machine that makes the art,” is
one of the fundamental concepts put forth by
Sol LeWitt.
• Expressionism/Fauvism –
to use realistic colors or using
perspective techniques to
recreate an illusion of reality.
Rather colors are selected to fit
the emotion felt or to create
emotional impact.
• Realism is the art style most
people regard as “real art,” where
the subject of the skillful use of
paint, color, and tone the painting
looks very much like it appears in
real life, rather than being
romanticized or glorified.