-
Period: 20,000 BCE to 8000 BCE
Cave Art
-
17,000 BCE
Lascaux Cave
The paintings represent primarily large animals, typical local and contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic time. -
17,000 BCE
Cave of Altamira
In the millennia between these two occupations, the cave was evidently inhabited only by wild animals. Human occupants of the site were well-positioned to take advantage of the rich wildlife that grazed in the valleys of the surrounding mountains as well as the marine life available in nearby coastal areas. -
12,000 BCE
Acacus Mountains
There are paintings and carvings of animals such as giraffes, elephants, ostriches and camels, but also of men and horses. People are depicted in various daily life situations, for example while making music and dancing. -
10,000 BCE
Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave
The cave has some of the earliest paintings of what the cavemen thought the animals looked like when they were out on their hunting expeditions -
10,000 BCE
Magura Cave
The drawings represent important events of the society that had occupied the Magura cave: religious ceremonies, hunting scenes and depictions of deities which are unique on the Balkan peninsula. -
9000 BCE
Laas Geel
Among other things, they depict cattle in ceremonial robes accompanied by humans, who are believed to have been inhabitants of the region. The necks of the cattle are embellished with a kind of plastron. Some of the cattle are also portrayed wearing decorative robes. -
Period: 8000 BCE to 30 BCE
Ancient Egypt Art
-
3200 BCE
Narmer Palette
The tablet is thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer. On one side, the king is depicted with the bulbed White Crown of Upper (southern) Egypt, and the other side depicts the king wearing the level Red Crown of Lower (northern) Egypt. -
2613 BCE
Khufu's Statue
The statuette depicts Khufu with the Red crown (deshret) of Lower Egypt. The King sits on a largely undecorated throne with a low back. In his right hand, which is placed over his breast, he holds a flail against his right shoulder with the flail lying over his upper arm. -
2600 BCE
Seated Scribe
Its realistic features stand in contrast to perhaps more rigid and somewhat less detailed body. Hands, fingers, and fingernails of the sculpture are delicately modeled. The hands are in writing position. -
1300 BCE
Mask of Tutankhamun
The face represents the pharaoh's standard image, and the same image was found by excavators elsewhere in the tomb, in particular in the guardian statues. -
Period: 1000 BCE to 200
Greek Art
-
650 BCE
Block Statue
Block statues consist of a man squatting with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms folded on top his knees. Often, these men are wearing a "wide cloak" that reduces the body of the figure to a simple block-like shape.[4] Most of the detail is reserved for the head of the individual being depicted. -
500 BCE
Temple of Aphaia
The Temple of Aphaia (Greek: Ναός Αφαίας) or Afea[1] is located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the Greek island of Aigina, which lies in the Saronic Gulf. -
470 BCE
Charioteer of Delphi
The statue was set up at Delphi [2] to commemorate the victory of the tyrant Polyzalus of Gela in Sicily and his chariot in the Pythian Games of 470 BC, which were held at Delphi in honor of Pythean Apollo. -
466 BCE
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure, about 13 m tall, made by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece, and erected in the Temple of Zeus there. -
450 BCE
Discobolus
The Discobolus of Myron ("discus thrower", Greek: Δισκοβόλος, Diskobólos) is a Greek sculpture completed at the start of the Classical Period, figuring a youthful ancient Greek athlete throwing discus, -
400 BCE
Hermes and the Infant Dionysus
Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, also known as the Hermes of Praxiteles or the Hermes of Olympia is an ancient Greek sculpture of Hermes and the infant Dionysus discovered in 1877 in the ruins of the Temple of Hera, Olympia, in Greece. It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. -
196 BCE
Rosetta Stone
The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic script and Demotic script, respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. -
130 BCE
Venus de Milo
Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, the statue is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty; however, some scholars claim it is the sea-goddess Amphitrite, venerated on Milos.[1 -
Period: 100 to 1500
Early Christian and Medieval Art
-
250
Good Shepherd from the Catacomb of Priscilla
The image of "The Good Shepherd", a beardless youth in pastoral scenes collecting sheep, was the most common of these images, and was probably not understood as a portrait of the historical Jesus.[7] These images bear some resemblance to depictions of kouros figures in Greco-Roman art. -
300
Jesus Healing the Bleeding Woman
The depiction of Jesus was well-developed by the end of the pre-Constantinian period. He was typically shown in narrative scenes, with a preference for New Testament miracles, and few of scenes from his Passion. A variety of different types of appearance were used, including the thin long-faced figure with long centrally-parted hair that was later to become the norm. -
359
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus is a marble Early Christian sarcophagus used for the burial of Junius Bassus, who died in 359. -
1100
Byzantine Monumental Church mosaics
Byzantine monumental Church mosaics are one of the great achievements of medieval art. These are from Monreale in Sicily from the late 12th century. -
Period: 1300 to
Renaissance Art
-
1423
Adoration of the Magi
The "adoration" of the Magi at the crib is the usual subject, but their arrival, called the "Procession of the Magi", is often shown in the distant background of a Nativity scene (usual in Byzantine icons), or as a separate subject, for example in the Magi Chapel frescos by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence. -
1483
Mars and Venus
Venus and Mars is a panel painting of about 1485 by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It shows the Roman gods Venus, goddess of love, and Mars, god of war, in an allegory of beauty and valour. -
1500
Last Supper
The Last Supper was likely a retelling of the events of the last meal of Jesus among the early Christian community, and became a ritual which referred to that meal. The earliest depictions of such meals occur in the frescoes of the Catacomb of Rome, where figures are depicted reclining around semi-circular tables. -
1503
The Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". -
1504
The Statue of David
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. -
1512
The Creation of Adam
The Creation of Adam is a fresco painting by Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, painted c. 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man. -
1523
The Last Judgement
The Last Judgment is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo covering the whole altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. -
1562
The Fall of the Rebel Angels
The archangel Michael and his angels are shown by Bruegel in the act of driving the rebel angels from Heaven. Pride was the sin which caused the fall of Lucifer and his companions, and the conflict of good and evil, vice and virtue, is a theme which recurs constantly in Bruegel's work.[5] -
Period: to
Baroque Art
-
Death of the Virgin
The composition is arranged around the Virgin, the painting's central theme. Surrounding the Virgin are overcome Mary Magdalen and apostles. Others shuffle in behind them. The compact mass of the assemblage and the posturing of the figures guide the viewer's eye toward the abandoned body. He expresses the greater grief of the former not by a more emotive face, but by hiding their faces. -
Judith Slaying Holofernes
Judith Slaying Holofernes is a 1620–1621 painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Like her earlier version of the work, Judith is thought to be a self-portrait. Holofernes is thought to be Agostino Tassi, the mentor her father hired to teach Artemesia because women were not allowed to attend the art academy. She was raped by Tassi while under his tutelage. -
Christ Crucified
Christ Crucified is a 1632 painting by Diego Velázquez depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus. -
The Night Watch
Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, also known as The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, but commonly referred to as The Night Watch. -
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
The author notes that Aristotle's right hand (traditionally the favored hand), which rests on the bust of Homer, is both higher and painted in lighter shades than the left hand on the gold chain given to him by Alexander. -
Ahimelech Giving the Sword of Goliath to David
The priest Ahimelech gives the sword of Goliath to the young David, who won it in battle. When King Saul learned that this symbol of power had been given to David, he had Ahimelech murdered -
Period: to
Realism Art
-
A Burial At Ornans
The painting records the funeral in September 1848 of his great-uncle in the painter's birthplace, the small town of Ornans. -
The Stone Breakers
The Stone Breakers was an 1849 painting by the French painter Gustave Courbet. It was a work of social realism, depicting two peasants, a young man and an old man, breaking rocks. -
The Painter's Studio
The Painter's Studio: A real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life is an 1855 oil on canvas painting by Gustave Courbet. -
Period: to
Impressionism Art
-
Period: to
Modern Art & Photography
-
Impression, Sunrise
Impression, Sunrise is a painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. -
The Railway
The pensive subject is wearing a dark hat and sombre deep blue dress with white details, and is looking towards the viewer, while a sleeping puppy, a fan and an open book rest in her lap. Next to her is a little girl, modelled by the daughter of Manet's neighbour Alphonse Hirsch [de], a contrasting figure wearing a white dress with large blue bow, standing her back to the viewer, watching through the railings as a train passes beneath them. -
Paris Street; Rainy Day
It shows a number of individuals walking through the Place de Dublin, then known as the Carrefour de Moscou, at an intersection to the east of the Gare Saint-Lazare in north Paris. -
Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan
The picture portrays a grief-stricken Ivan the Terrible cradling his mortally wounded son, the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich. -
Morning in a Pine Forest
The Morning in a Pine Forest became very popular, being reproduced on various items, including the "Clumsy Bear" chocolates by Krasny Oktyabr. According to one poll, the painting is the second most popular in Russia behind Bogatyrs by Viktor Vasnetsov. -
Wheatfield with Crows
Wheat Field with Crows, made on a double-square canvas, depicts a dramatic, cloudy sky filled with crows over a wheat field. A sense of isolation is heightened by a central path leading nowhere and by the uncertain direction of flight of the crows. -
Girls at the Piano
Renoir depicts two young girls at a piano in a bourgeois home, one in a white dress with blue sash seated playing and one in a pink dress standing. -
Science and Charity
It is believed that the work was inspired by Enrique Paternina, Mother's Visit and A Hospital Room during the visit of the Head Doctor by the Sevillian painter Luis Jiménez Aranda. Picasso had previously painted a picture of a similar theme (the Sick Woman, painted in Coruña in 1894). -
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó in Barcelona. -
The Steerage
“The Steerage” not only encapsulates what he called straight photography – offering a truthful take on the world. It also gives us a more complex and multi-layered viewpoint that conveys abstraction through the shapes in the image. And how those shapes relate to one another. -
Water Lilies
Water Lilies, 1916 is one of the most famous and recognizable works from the Impressionist movement. ... Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), the founder of Impressionism, was one of the most influential landscape painters in the history of art. -
American Gothic
The figures were modeled by Wood's sister Nan Wood Graham and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 19th-century Americana, and the man is holding a pitchfork. The plants on the porch of the house are mother-in-law's tongue and beefsteak begonia, which are the same as the plants in Wood's 1929 portrait of his mother Woman with Plants.[3] -
Migrant Mother
This photo shows the perspective of the struggles of the Great Depression for a mother and her two children. The Great Depression was a rough time for everyone in America, but for people who immigrated here, it must've been even more tough. -
Nighthawks
Nighthawks is a 1942 oil on canvas painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people in a downtown diner late at night. -
V-J Day in Times Square
In the iconic photo, it shows the celebration of winning the second world war with the soldiers returning to their wives and families. This photo has become one of the most recognizable photos in history.
