The Styles About The Styles The Artists
Abstract Abstract artists felt that paintings did not have to show only things that were recognizable. In their paintings they did not try to show people, animals, or places exactly as they appeared in the real world. They mainly used color and shape in their paintings to show emotions. Some Abstract art is also called Non-objective art. In non-objective art, you do not see specific objects. It is not painted to look like something specific. Sonia Delaunay

Jackson Pollock
Cubism In cubism paintings are not supposed to look real. The artist uses geometric shapes to show what he is trying to paint. Early cubists used mainly greys, browns, greens, and yellows. After 1914, Cubists started to use brighter colors. Cubism was the beginning of the Abstract and Non-objective art styles. Picasso, Braque, etc. were trying to create the 3rd dimension on a two dimensional surface. Pablo Picasso

Marc Chagall

Georges Braque
Expressionism In Expressionist Art, the artist tries to express certain feelings about something. The artists that painted in this style were more concerned with having their paintings express a feeling than in making the painting look exactly like what they were painting. Marc Chagall

Wassily Kandinsky

Ludwig Kirchner
Fauvism Fauvism was an art style that lasted only four years, beginning in 1905. The leader of this movement was Henri Matisse. The word Fauvism is French for "wild beasts". It got this name because the paintings had bright and unusual colors. The subjects in the paintings were shown in a simple way, and the colors and patterns were bright and wild. Henri Matisse
Impressionism Impressionism was developed in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These pieces of art were painted as if someone just took a quick look at the subject of the painting. The paintings were usually in bold colors and did not have a lot of detail. The paintings in this style were usually outdoor scenes like landscapes. The pictures were painted to look like they were shimmering. Claude Monet

Mary Cassatt

Pierre Auguste Renoir

Camille Pissaro
Pointillism In Pointillism, the artist uses small dots or strokes of paint to make up the pictures. From far away, these dots blend together to form the picture and give the impression of different colors as they blend together. Paul Seurat

Paul Signac
Pop Art Pop art can be any every day item that is drawn in a brash and colorful way. Pop Art is short for Popular Art. It is inspired by comic strips, advertising, and popular entertainment. Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Claes Oldenberg

David Hockney
Post Impressionism Post impressionism began in the 19th century. It was mainly still life and landscapes. The post impressionists liked to use lots of colors and shadows. Vincent Van Gogh

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Paul Gauguin

Paul Cezanne
Primitivism Primitive Art looks like art that is done by a child. Usually the picture is painted very simply, and the subjects are 'flat', or two-dimensional. Paul Klee

Henri Matisse
Realism Realism is a type of art that shows things exactly as they appear in life. It began in the 18th century, but the greatest Realist era was in the mid-19th century. Most Realists were from France, but there were some famous American painters who were Realists also. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Leonardo Da Vinci

Gustave Courbet

Honore Daumier

Thomas Eakins John Singleton
Copley
Surrealism Surrealists paintings were generally based on dreams. Their paintings were filled with familiar objects which were painted to look strange or mysterious. They hoped their odd paintings would make people look at things in a different way and change the way they felt about things. They thought that their paintings might stir up feelings in the back of peoples' minds. Salvador Dali

Henri Rousseau

Max Ernst