Major Art Movements: From Abstract to Surrealism
Abstract Art
Abstract Art is art that ignores all figuration. It is characterized by maintaining a set of lines, colors, and shapes without any relation to identifiable forms. It can adequately express inner emotions and suggestions.
Example: Kandinsky
Bauhaus
The Bauhaus was an art and architecture school founded by Walter Gropius. His successor was Mies van der Rohe in 1928. Its program was to restore unity and harmony of effect to distinct art activities, transforming them into something completely aligned with a new conception of architecture.
Example: W. Gropius
Cubism
Cubism is an art movement in which two principal branches are distinguished: the analytical, based on the works of Cézanne, which seeks the formal reality of things reduced to a geometric scheme; and the synthetic, which represents things from different perspectives.
Example: Juan Gris
Expressionism
Expressionism is an artistic movement of the 20th century that was developed in Germany and achieved particular prominence in painting and literature. It is characterized by attempting to express the world of sentiments and internal experiences of the artist, as opposed to the realism that characterizes them. Expressionist works attempt to reflect the anxieties and sentiments of men before uncertainty.
Example: Blaue Reiter
Modernism
Modernism was characterized by the use of sinuous arabesque lines and organic shapes, reminiscent of the dominance of asymmetries. It was applied to the visual arts and interior design. It is characterized by the fusion of new structural and ornamental elements. The most prominent materials used are wrought iron, glass, and ceramics.
Example: Gaudí
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is an art style inspired by classic art forms that reproduced the solemn forms of Greco-Roman art. Its accomplishments were notable for their grandeur and elegance.
Pop Art
Pop Art is a US-born art movement that takes elements from Dadaism and Surrealism to compose trivial elements. Its purpose was to provoke a reaction from the viewer in a multiple sense.
Example: Andy Warhol
Postimpressionism
Postimpressionism is an artistic movement developed in Europe that pretends to imitate impressions, with more concern for sensations than for visual form.
Example: Van Gogh
Pointillism
Pointillism is a pictorial movement that emerged in Italy and France, whose supporters affirm the need to apply paint or color without mixing, so that the fusion of color is not realized in the picture but in the eye of the spectator.
Example: Paul Signac
Realism
Realism is an aesthetic trend that tries to accurately reproduce reality. The themes come from common life and the concerns of the time.
Example: Millet
Rococo
Rococo is a style of the Louis XV era that refers to the ornamental.
Example: Hall of Mirrors (Versailles)
Romanticism
Romanticism is a cultural movement whose principal themes are those concerning the Middle Ages and the national past, treating them in a passionate and idealistic, although sometimes revolutionary, way. It introduced the assessment of color and material below design and form. A strong interest in landscape painting emerged.
Example: Delacroix
Surrealism
Surrealism is a French-born literary trend. It is characterized by a lack of rational control over expression and the use of images that reflect the unconscious psyche, as opposed to the subjective.
Example: Dalí