Art appreciation is the knowledge and

understanding of the universal and timeless qualities

that identify all great art. The more you appreciate
and understand the art of different eras, movements,
styles and techniques, the better you can develop,
evaluate and improve your own artwork.

Art movements are the collective titles that are

given to artworks which share the same artistic ideas,
style, technical approach or time frame. They are a
historical convenience for grouping together artists of
a common period, style or technique so that they may
be more easily understood. Art Movements are
usually named retrospectively by art critics or
historians and their titles are often witty or sarcastic
nicknames pulled from a bad review.

Impressionism

Cubism

Pop Art

Our Art History Timelines offer a brief

explanation of the most important movements and
styles in their historical order. They also list the major
artists and illustrate a key work from each movement.

Our Art History Gallery illustrates important artworks by

some of the major artists associated with the following art
movements and styles: Gothic Art, The Early
Renaissance, The High Renaissance and Mannerism, The
Northern Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo Art, Dutch
Art, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, Realism and PreRaphaelite
Art,
Impressionism
and
Post
Impressionism, Fauvism and Expressionism, Abstract
Art, Cubism and Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism
and De Still, Dada and Surrealism, Abstract
Expressionism, Pop Art and Op Art.

A knowledge of the visual elements of art helps you to

understand how artworks are created. It will assist you in
breaking an artwork down to its component parts so that
you may appreciate the skill and imagination that the
artist has used in composing it. Our pages explore the
individual qualites of each visual element - line - shape tone - color - pattern - texture - form and how artists use
them to express their ideas.
Our Visual Elements Worksheet will help you to ask the
right questions to decipher an artwork and our Visual
Elements Word Bank will help you with the appropriate
artistic language to express your opinion of it.

Line

Shape

Tone

Portraits express the beauty, status, power,

wealth or character of their subjects. Artists
use a wide range of media for portraiture,
including
drawing,
printing,
painting,
sculpture, photography and multimedia.

Vincent Van
Gogh

Frida Kahlo

Francis Bacon

Still Life is the drawing and painting of items such as

fruit, flowers and household objects, which are
usually arranged on a table top or shelf. Over the
centuries artists have chosen to paint still life objects
for their symbolism, abstract qualities or simply their
visual beauty.

Harmen
Steenwyck

Chardin

Giorgio
Morandi

Our Landscapes gallery celebrates artwork from

around the world based on the built environment. It
displays famous paintings of towns and buildings that
have inspired artists to share their feelings about the
surroundings we have constructed for ourselves.

El Greco

Claude Monet

Vincent Van
Gogh

Animals in Art have always been a popular subject.

They are often depicted for their natural beauty and
majesty, or as mythical or symbolic beasts.
Sometimes they are portrayed as the hunter's prey,
prize livestock, or more sentimentally as domestic
pets.

Albrecht Drer

George Stubbs

Pablo Picasso

Graphic Designers create visual solutions to sell or

communicate the concept of a product, campaign or
event. Their work includes illustration, typography,
posters, packaging, corporate identities, advertising
campaigns, web design and digital multimedia.

A.M. Cassandre

Abram Games

Niklaus Troxler