The Most Famous Art Movements and Styles

Throughout history, artists have produced art in a variety of media and styles following different philosophies and ideals. Although labelling may often result in being reductive, different artistic tendencies or styles can be grouped in collective titles known as art movements.

If speaking art seems like a discipline in itself to you, here we provide you with the top terms of art movements and styles, from Classicism to Futurism, from Baroque to Avant-garde.



Abstract Expressionism

The designation Abstract Expressionism encompasses a wide variety of American 20th century art movements, and is usually characterized by large abstract painted canvases.

Also known as The New York School, this movement in abstract art includes sculpture and other media as well. The term ‘action painting’ is associated with Abstract Expressionism, describing a direct and highly dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the effects of dripping and spilling paint onto the canvas.

Art Deco

Emerging in France before the First World War, Art Deco exploded in 1925 on the occasion of the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs (Exhibition of Decorative Arts). Blurring the line between different mediums and fields, from architecture and furniture to clothing and jewelry, Art Deco merged modern aesthetic with skillful craftsmanship, advanced technology, and elegant materials.

Art Nouveau

A decorative style that flourished between 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the U.S. Art Nouveau, also called Jugendstil (Germany) and Sezessionstil (Austria), is characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms. Although it influenced painting and sculpture, its chief manifestations were in architecture and the decorative and graphic arts, aiming to create a new style, free of the imitative historicism that dominated much of 19th-century art movements and design.



Avant-garde

In French, avant-garde means “advanced guard” and refers to innovative or experimental concepts, works or the group or people producing them, particularly in the realms of culture, politics, and the arts.

Baroque

The term Baroque, derived from the Portuguese ‘barocco’ meaning ‘irregular pearl or stone’,  is a movement in art and architecture developed in Europe from the early seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century. Baroque emphasizes dramatic, exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted, detail, which is a far cry from Surrealism, to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur.

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