TIMELINE ON THE HISTORY OF ART by Pau Redondo De Rosa

The beginning of art

predondo009sag — 2025-05-27 10:20:37 UTC

Cave paintings

The first evidence of art was made in prehistory. This art is known as rock art or portable art. This art consisted of paintings on cave walls with animal blood. These paintings depicted animal hunting and things they considered sacred.

The beginning of art

predondo009sag — 2025-05-27 10:36:40 UTC

The Venus sculptures

They are small female sculptures made during the Upper Paleolithic (approx. between 30,000 and 10,000 BC), carved in stone, bone or ivory.

The beginning of art

predondo009sag — 2025-05-27 10:55:23 UTC

Cromlech art

It is a prehistoric monument, which consisted of a circle of stones that represented a ritual.

The evolution of art in Mesopotamia

predondo009sag — 2025-05-27 11:13:42 UTC

Zigurtas Art

In Mesopotamia, adobe bricks were used to build ziggurts, which were stepped buildings with a temple at the top. They also invented hanging gardens. All this occurred around 2112–2004 BC.

The evolution of art in Egypt

predondo009sag — 2025-05-27 11:27:45 UTC

Hieroglyphs, a writing system of symbols and shapes representing words, sounds and ideas, were used in Egypt. It was deciphered thanks to the Rosetta Stone.

They built temples and pyramids that had the function of praising the Egyptian gods. At the end of each temple there was a sanctuary which could only be accessed by pharaohs and priests. The pyramids were used as tombs.

The evolution of art in Egypt 2

predondo009sag — 2025-06-03 09:25:14 UTC

They used the size hierarchy and the law of frontality. The three most famous pyramids are the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos. In Egypt, everything they painted was in profile except the eyes and shoulders.

The evolution of art in Roma

predondo009sag — 2025-06-03 09:39:56 UTC

Roman art is distinguished by its focus on realism and functionality. Unlike previous cultures, the Romans prioritized the faithful representation of reality in their works, reflecting daily life, portraits of people and historical scenes in great detail. This realistic approach was applied in sculpture as well as in painting and architecture, seeking a direct connection with the human experience.

The evolution of art in Roma 2

predondo009sag — 2025-06-03 18:10:43 UTC

Roman sculpture is renowned for its ability to capture the individuality and detail of people. Portraits were common, especially in the Republican era, and were characterized by:

Fidelity in features: Sculptors strove to accurately represent physical features and facial expressions.

Use of busts: The most common form was the bust, which represented the head and upper torso.

Materials: Mainly marble and bronze were used.

Purpose: These portraits served to commemorate important individuals and were exhibited in public and private spaces.

b. Narrative Reliefs

The Romans developed relief as a form of visual storytelling. These reliefs were used on monuments, columns, and arches to narrate historical events, such as military victories or important ceremonies. Key features include:

Dynamic composition: scenes were arranged to guide the viewer's eye through the narrative.

Meticulous detail: Attention was paid to small details to enhance realism.

Propagandistic purpose: They served to glorify the emperor and the empire.

Gothic

predondo009sag — 2025-06-04 07:57:20 UTC

They create a new arch, the pointed arch. They also created the ribbed vault. They build buttresses and flying buttresses, this allows thinner walls, higher cathedrals and the possibility of putting rose windows. Cathedrals were built all over Europe, such as Notre Dame, which burned down. The sculptures are more natural, humanized and with more movement. They began to build Jesus crucified and Mary with Jesus in her arms a lot. In painting began a revolution called Giotto, considered the first modern painter. He used depth, light and new compositions as never before.

In the 15th century the Flemish Gothic was born.

Renaissance

predondo009sag — 2025-06-04 08:15:26 UTC

When the Gothic period ended, Realism began, which was an explosion of culture and knowledge that had not occurred since Ancient Greece (15th century). In Italy, humanism began, which was an intellectual movement that shifted the focus of attention away from religion and God and placed it on the person and reason. They look for reference to the classical masters, Greece and Rome. It is the rebirth of antiquity. They recover aesthetic ideals and artistic elements of the classics. In architecture they break completely with the gothic style, the walls are recovered and columns are added. The semicircular arches return and simple and straight forms are sought.

In painting and sculpture we have the three most important artists, Rafael Sancio, the “great” Michelangelo and finally Leonardo da Vinci.

Baroque

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 19:40:03 UTC

It breaks with everything previously established in architecture. They make facades with slingshots, multiply the columns, fill with decoration and sculptures. They invented a new column, the Solomonic. Its most famous architects were Borromini and Vernini. We have many painters, as in Italy Caravaggio, creator of tenebrism, which are works with a marked contrast of light and shadow and with a very strong focus of light. And also Gentileschi, a great painter of this period. In Spain there is Velazquez, one of the most famous painters in history, creator of Las Meninas. In Holland they had Rubens, Rembranot and Clara Peeters who painted still lifes where she painted her face reflected in some object.

Rococo

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 19:43:39 UTC

They began to build palaces whose interiors were filled with many details and ornamentations. They did not leave a centimeter undecorated. What is called Horrorvacui that spread throughout Europe. In the middle of the XVlll century the illustration arises.

Neoclassicism

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 19:53:51 UTC

They look for something totally opposite to the Baroque and Rococo and for it they return to the most classic, the ancient Rome and Greece where they take their architectural elements to build again with the straight lines, without adornments, with columns and frontons and with marble. This style spread throughout Europe and later reached the United States. In sculpture and painting the same, they return to the classical style, full of serenity and order. New artistic movements arise and coexist, such as romanticism. Romantic painters, fleeing from the norm and order of neoclassicism, painted works that sought emotion and imagination. The other movement is realism, which focuses on social issues. They seek to capture the crude and difficult reality. One of the most outstanding painters that mixes these three movements is goya.

Historicism

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 20:03:14 UTC

In this century, buildings began to be constructed with the new materials, iron and glass. In Chicago, a new building concept was invented, the skyscraper, which was called the building of the future. In the middle of the 19th century, in Paris, many painters took the newly invented oil tubes and went out to paint in the open air to capture the effect of light and color at a particular time of the day.

Impressionism

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 20:17:20 UTC

They were strongly criticized because they said that the paintings were unfinished. Painters such as Gauguin and Van Gogh stood out, the latter being the one who made famous paintings such as Van Gogh's Room, The Sunflowers and The Starry Night. Everything will change in the 20th century. In painting there will be a revolution, a total rupture with the previous aesthetics. They wanted to liberate art from everything that had been established. The painters begin to experiment with new forms, often in a provocative way, the so-called Vanguards, which at the beginning have their epicenter in Paris. Fauvism appears, which consists of experimenting with color. Cubism where they experiment with form and perspective like Picasso. Expressionism where they twist reality in an emotional way. Abstraction, the first time that the painting does not represent anything recognizable. Suprematism, which is to return to the zero point of painting. Dadaism, which pretends to challenge art with anti-art. Surrealism.

The new avant-garde that the epicenter was New York, where the Abstract Expressionism appears where the gesture of the artist is the important thing. Finally Pop Art, which is the avant-garde that raises the popular everyday elements to the level of art.

21st century (the present)

predondo009sag — 2025-06-06 20:26:46 UTC

Art is left free and a brutal plurality develops in its form, concept and content. Art is more alive than ever and thanks to social networks and the internet this wide panorama is accessible to all of us so that you can find your favorite artist or style.