Art has always been important to people from all over the world, regardless if they are artists or not. Through art, individuals are able to express themselves, their imagination, their visions, their conceptual ideas and their technical skills among many other things. The most classic branches of art are three: architecture, painting and sculpture, however, there are a lot of branches that exist. Throughout the years, art has constantly been changing and it still plays a pivotal part of the world. It’s a known fact that art movements can change the world. The main focus of this article is the top art movements that changed the world.
Surrealism
Surrealism has always been a famous art movement and it has really changed the world throughout all these years. This cultural movement started back in 1917 and it includes a lot of visual artworks, writings, paintings and so much more. Among some of the major figures in that period are Pablo Picasso, André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and René Magritte. During that period, the painters were known to paint scenes that were described as “unnerving” and “illogical”. One of these famous creators, Breton, said that the reason for that is to “resolve the dream’s contradictory conditions and the super-reality that’s called “surreality”.
The surrealism is truly one of the most famous movements from the Modernist era. It all began in the early 1900s in Paris. The Surrealist movement is said to have been developed from both Avant-garde and Dada. It didn’t take long for it to spread around in the literature, visual arts, music, photography, and film. And these are just some of the fields in which Surrealism took over. Some of the most famous paintings during that period are: “The Persistence of Memory” and “The Burning Giraffe” by Salvador Dalí, “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso, “The Broken Column” by Frida Kahlo, “Philosopher’s Lamp”, “The Son of Man” and “The Lovers” by René Magritte and many others.
Realism
Realism began in 1848 in France, right after the French Revolution. What makes Realism so important and changing is the fact that the painters during that era rejected Romanticism, which has been dominant in France in the late part of the 18th century. The Realism included a lot of painters that focused mainly on the scenes of contemporary people and their daily lives. Some of the major figures in that period are Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Jean-François Millet, Edward Hopper, and William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Besides, the paintings, there are a lot of other works that have played a pivotal role in the success of Realism. One of those works is photography, which was very influential. It was so influential that it pushed the painters to create their realistic representations in their works. Some of the most famous paintings from the period are: “The Thinker” and “The Painter’s Studio” by Auguste Rodin, “The Stone Breakers” by Gustave Courbet, “Olympia” by Édouard Manet and “The Potato Eaters” by Vincent Van Gogh.
Impressionism
The Impressionism began with a group of French painters in the early 1860s of France that decided to break the traditional way of painting known as “en plein air”. The original group consisted of Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille and Pierre-August Renoir. The movement's name actually comes from one of the four creators’ work — Claude Monet’s “Impression soleil levant” (translated from French to Impression, Sunrise). The artwork became known as the so-called “Exhibition of the Impressionists” back in 1874 in Paris. Eventually, the term was coined by Louis Leroy, an art critic who published in the famous Parisian newspaper “Le Charivari”.
During the Impressionism, the painters moved away from realistic representations to use vivid colors and visible brushstrokes. Some of the most famous paintings during that period are: “Poppies” by Claude Monet, “Luncheon of the Boating Party” and “Nude Seated on a Sofa” by Pierre-August Renoir, “Wheatfield with Crows” by Vincent Van Gogh and “The Boulevard Montmarte at Night” by Camille Pissarro.
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is also spelled “Post Impressionism. This is another movement that really changed the world. It originates from France and it was developed between 1886 and 1905. The Post-Impressionism was a response to the movement before it, the Impressionism. The creators from that period were really united when it comes to adding symbolic content and including various abstract elements to their works. Some of the symbolic contents covered during that period are cloisonne, synthetism, and les nabis neo-impressionism. The movement was led mainly by the painters, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin.
Cézanne was known as the father of the art movement because he formed the bridge between Impressionism and Cubism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cézane’s work “The Large Bathers” as well as “The Starry Night”, “Café Terrace at Night” and “Almond Blossoms” by Vincent Van Gogh, and “The Painter of Sunflowers” by Paul Gauguin are some of the most famous paintings doing that movement.
Expressionism
Expressionism is one of the world-changing art movements that is also a modernist movement, which included a lot of poetry and painting. The movement originates in Germany and dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. What makes it so special is that during this process, the avant-garde style was developed just before the First World War took place. The Expressionism style extended to a variety of things such as literature, dance, film, and even music. Some of the most famous painters that excelled during the Expressionism period were Edvard Munch, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Knee, and Amedeo Modigliani.
Rather than reality, Expressionism conveys emotion and meaning. Each of the artists during that period had their way of expressing themselves, sometimes even using very vivid and shocking colors to try and achieve that. Some of the most famous paintings during the Expressionism period were: “Nu couché” by Amedeo Modigliani, “Castle and Sun” by Paul Klee, “The Blue Rider” by Wassily Kandinsky and “Evening on Karl Johan Street” by Edvard Munch.