6 most influential art movements that shaped the creative world

Different times and eras have brought with them different art movements. From the era of the love for Biblical paintings to the era that preferred cubist forms and bold expressions, there was something unique and worth it in them all. Some art movements came to experiment with something new, and others to end the domination of an art style that was too ‘academic’ and ‘strict’. But as the art movements and ages came and went, they all produced something worthwhile, something that is appreciated, admired, and looked at in awe even today.
Here we mention the 6 most influential art movements that shaped the art scene.

The Renaissance is one of the first, and most well-known art movements in history. Starting from Italy, and with artists like Michelangelo and da Vinci, the Renaissance completely changed how people saw and perceived arts.
The Renaissance artists focused on the human form, the expressions, the physique and anatomy, the colours that could sparkle people’s eyes, and so on. Renaissance was the time when Biblical paintings, figures, canvases, and walls with mythical creatures, were all becoming famous.

A brilliant age of art and culture in the Netherlands was the Dutch Golden Age. It was marked by great strides in creative fields and saw some of the best Dutch artists who are admired even today. During the Dutch Golden Age, we saw artists like Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, the master of Chiaroscuro, Rembrandt, and many more.
And what they did differently was to make a shift from religious, biblical, and character paintings to realism, landscapes, everyday life, and the like. They decided to show the people who could be commonly seen, instead of Gods and figures who were only etched on canvases. The everyday gardens, the flowers of spring, the beautiful women, men and women doing their jobs, and topics like these found a place in the Dutch Golden Age.

Another famous but less talked about art movement is the Baroque era. Baroque art was dramatic, had a ton of movement to it, actively gave out messages, was emotional, and had a very elaborately, specific style.

Famous artists like Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini created works that came under the umbrella of the Baroque movement and used rich colours, heightened expressions, and a sense of grandeur in their paintings. Baroque art was meant to be a very immersive experience, and the characters were so richly detailed that these paintings looked like photographs.

Art Nouveau, which translates to ‘new art’ in French, was like a reaction against the more traditional, academic style of creating art. Instead of focusing too much on the lines or forms, this art was more free-flowing, took inspiration from nature, and incorporated a ton of natural themes into it. Be it the long, adorable vine that hung down from a tree, or a sort of asymmetry that naturally came onto the canvas, Art Nouveau was a celebration of it all.

One of the more ‘modern’ movements in Art is Cubism. Starting with the art of Pablo Picasso, Cubism became a topic of argument quickly, not just because of Picasso’s themes and inspirations, but also because most people thought that straight lines and blurred figures could not be a part of the Art.

Cubist art and artists broke away from traditional forms of paintings and faces and just conveyed things and expressions through angles and lines. There were fragmented pieces, broken faces, hands that looked like traffic cones, and bodies that just seemed like a blob.

Although very artists today employ cubist techniques, back in the day it was a form of revolution.

Impressionism, an art movement as beautiful as its name, was started by Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism. His painting ‘Impression, Sunrise’ is said to be the one to herald the movement and the movement was defined by soft brushstrokes, blurry hues, soft colours, outdoor scenes, and the like.

Artists like Claude Monet, Renoir, Edgar Degas, etc were the ones to forward this movement, and the ‘impressions’ they made are still etched in people’s hearts. In impressionism, instead of focusing on lines, shapes, angles, and the like, artists tried to portray nature as a fleeting beauty. The paintings of nature, humans, moments, and landscapes were done best in Impressionist forms.