Art Movements

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Abstract Art
This term is used for art that doesn't resemble natural appearance. Forms are modified or changed in order to emphasize certain qualities or content. The term is often used to describe any art that is non-representational.

Abstract Expressionism
A term used to describe contemporary painting. It was originally applied to Kandinsky's abstract work of the 1920s, but many artists are still painting in this style today. Paintings of this style bear no recognizable relationship to anything in nature but reflect the innermost feeling of the artist. Abstract Expressionism was the first artistic movement to have roots both in Europe and in America. Artists who painted in this style include Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollack.

Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an elegant decorative art style, often associated with furniture, fabrics and interior décor, characterised by intricate patterns of curving lines. It developed from the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and became popular across Europe and the United States. Art nouveau artists include Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt and the glassmaker Louis Tiffany.

Cubism
An early 20th-century school of painting and sculpture in which the subject matter is portrayed by geometric forms without realistic detail. Abstract form is stressed by using intersecting, often transparent, cubes and cones.

Dada
In 1915 a group of artists sought refuge from the First World Wart in Switzerland where they organised a range of ‘manifestations' including art exhibitions, poetry readings and musical performances. They believed that everything should be destroyed and rejected and were ‘anti-art' in that they scorned existing styles and forms. Dadaism responded to what was happening in the world and highlighted the horrors that resulted from the war.

Existentialism
Existentialism was a philosophical movement that believed in the value of individuals and their thoughts and experiences. Human beings were seen as emotional rather than rational beings. that cannot be controlled by systems

Expressionism
Expressionism is a style in which the artists don't try to reproduce a subject accurately, but instead portray their own inner state. The movement is associated with Germany in the first half of the twentieth century.

Impressionism
A mid-19th century French movement. Artists focused on giving an impression of feelings and events rather than a realistic, detailed representation. They were concerned with light and its effects and typically painted using rapid and bold brushstrokes. The movement's name came from Claude Monet's early work, Impression: Sunrise. Other renowned Impressionists include Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro.

Modernism
Modernism was a cultural movement that developed in the late nineteenth century and gathered momentum during and after the First World War. Modernist artists rejected traditional forms and styles - for example, artists such as Picasso didn't use recognised perspective in their paintings.

Neo-impressionism This movement in French painting developed from Impressionism in the 1880s. Its chief exponent Georges Seurat who used dots of pure colour, carefully placed in relationship to one another so that when the picture was viewed from the ideal distance the dots seemed to blend with one another.

Op Art
Op art or optical art Optical Art is a form of abstract art that repeats simple forms and colours to create visual effects. Artists use colour and shape to manipulate what the viewer sees - for example, paintings often appear to move as the observer changes position. One of the leading exponents of this type of art was Bridget Riley.

Orphism
Orphism or Orphic cubism, was a term coined by the French poet Apollinaire to describe the work of Robert Delaunay and his wife Sonia Delaunay. The movement developed from Cubism but focussed on bringing together bright colours and abstract structures to express sensation. Members of the movement believed that eventually they could do away with recognisable subjects in their paintings and communciate solely through form and colour.

Post-Impressionism
A term used to describe artists who were influenced by Impressionism but took their art in different directions. There is no single well-defined style of Post-Impressionism, but in general it is less casual and more emotionally charged than Impressionist work. The classic Post-Impressionists are Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Rousseau.

Surrealism
A movement launched in 1924 by French poet André Breton was strongly influenced by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Although they feature recognisable forms from the real world, Surrealist works often appear dreamlike, irrational and fantastical. Surrealists include André Breton, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali and Joan Míro.

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