Abstract Expressionism is a form of art in which the artist expresses himself purely through the use of form and colour. It blossomed in America after the Second World War and held sway until the dawn of Pop Art in the1960's. It is form where no objects represented.

The typically applies paint rapidly, and with force to their huge canvases in an effort to show feelings and emotions, painting gesturally, sometimes applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas. Their work is characterized by what appears to be accident and chance, but which is actually highly planned. It was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds.

An art movement involving a mix of other modern decorative art styles, largely of the 1920s and 1930s.

Art Deco is an elegant style of decorative art and especially architecture, similar in some regards to the earlier Art Nouveau style.

It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication in architecture and applied arts which range from luxurious objects made from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available to a growing middle class.

Art Nouveau french for "The New Art" is an elegant decorative art style characterized by intricately detailed patterns of curving lines. It was developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is particularly characterised by the depiction of leaves and flowers in undulating lines, often flowing vines. Art Nouveau became popular across Europe and in the United States.

The roots of Art Nouveau go back to Romanticism, Symbolism, the English Arts and Crafts Movement and William Morris (English, 1834-1896). Art Nouveau is also known as Jugenstil and Yellow Book Style, epitomizing what is sometimes called fin de siècle style.

A group of early twentieth-century American artists who often painted pictures to capture the feel of turn-of-the-century New York City, through realistic and unglamorized portraits of everyday life.

The group was active between 1908 to 1918.

An association of French landscape painters working in the region of the French town of Barbizon who attempted to achieve a truer representation of the countryside, and are considered to be part of the French Realist movement. Theodore Rousseau was a leader; Corot and Millet were also associated with the group.

The Barbizon School existed in France in the mid-19th Century

A movement in European painting in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, characterized by violent movement, strong emotion, and dramatic lighting and coloring.

The Baroque style was limited mainly to Catholic countries. It is a style in which painters, sculptors, and architects sought emotion, movement, and variety in their works.

This movement was encouraged by the Catholic Church, the most important patron of the arts at that time, as a return to tradition and spirituality

A style of the Byzantine Empire and its provinces, which existed during the time 5th Century A.D. to 1453 when the Christian empire whose capital was Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, was conquered by the Turks in 1450. However, its influence continued in Russia and elsewhere where the Orthodox church held sway.

This art of the Eastern Roman Empire, refers more to a style associated with Byzantium than to its area. Byzantine paintings and mosaics are characterized by a rich use of color and figures which seem flat and stiff. The figures also tend to appear to be floating, and to have large eyes. Backgrounds tend to be solidly golden or toned.

It was centered around the Orthodox church, in the painting of icons and the decoration of churches with frescoes and mosaics. Early Byzantine art is often called "Early Christian art."

Classicism was a British style of historical painting inspired by the art and architecture of Classical Greece and Rome during the mid to late 19th Century. In a general sense, it refers to art based on accepted standards of beauty.

During the 19th century, an increasing number of Europeans made the "Grand Tour" to Mediterranean lands. There was even a great popular interest in the region's ancient ruins and exotic cultures, and this interest fuelled the rise of Classicism.

One of the most influential art movements during the period 1907 to 1914, Cubism was developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who were greatly inspired by African sculpture, by painters Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat, and by the Fauvists.

The key concept of Cubism is that the essence of objects can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously.

Dadaism is an early twentieth century art movement born as a consequence of the collapse during World War I of social and moral values which developed to that time. It was developed in Europe. Dada artists revelled in absurdity, and emphasised the role of the unpredictable in artistic creation.

Dadaists typically produced art objects in unconventional forms produced by unconventional methods. Several artists employed the chance results of accident as a means of production, for instance.

Expressionism, art movement dominant in Germany from 1905-1925, refers to art in which the intention is not to reproduce a subject accurately, but instead to portray it in such a way as to express the inner state of the artist. The emphasis was on distortion to communicate emotion.

An early twentieth century art movement and style of painting in France during the period 1898-1908. The name Fauves, French for "Wild Beasts," was given to artists adhering to this style because it was felt that they used intense colors in a violent, uncontrolled way. Fauvism was a short-lived movement, but had a substantial influence on some of the Expressionists.The leader of the Fauves was Henri Matisse.

Art made by people who had little or no formal schooling in art. This art was due to regional traditions and involved crafts. Folk artists usually make works of art with traditional techniques and content, in styles handed down through many generations, and often of a particular region. Paintings, sculptures, ceramics, metalwork, costume, tools, and other everyday objects all may be folk art.

Futurism was an Italian modernist movement during the time period 1909 to 1919. Futurism originated among a group of Italian artists as a means of celebrating the machine age, glorifying war and favoring the growth of fascism.

Futurist painting and sculpture were especially concerned with expressing movement and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms.

Gothic Art came during the time frame of the 5th century to 16th century A.D. Gothic sculpture emerged in 1200 and Gothic painting later in the thirteenth century.

This art type began in France. Typically religious in nature, it is especially known for the distinctive arched design of its churches, its stained glass, and its illuminated manuscripts.

The artworks are characterized by a linear, graceful, elegant style more naturalistic than that which had existed previously in Europe.

There was a Gothic Revival in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Impressionism is that art movement which flourished in France during the time 1860's to 1880's. Artists sought to catch glimpses of their subjects showing the effects of sunlight on things at different times of day.

The movement's name came from Monet's early work, Impression: Sunrise. The Impressionist style is still widely practiced today.

Mannerism is the European art movement and style that developed between during the time period, 1520 to 1600. It arose in reaction to the calm balance of the High Renaissance in favor of emotion and distortion. These works of art reflected the tension in Europe at this time. It featured elongated, contorted poses, crowded canvases, and harsh lighting and coloring.

A movement in American painting and sculpture that originated in the late 1950s. It emphasized pure, reduced forms and strict, systematic compositions.

From the Hebrew word for "prophet." This art period was developed by a group of French painters active in the 1890s who stressed flat areas of color and pattern. The group became very influential within the field of graphic art. It existed between 1888 to 1890.

This French art style developed during the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. It originated as a result of the Baroque. It sought to revive the ideals of ancient Greek and Roman art. Neoclassic artists used classical forms to express their ideas about courage, sacrifice, and love of country.

Op Art, a short form for Optical Art began in the mid-1950's based on the effects of optical patterns. Op Art, a form of abstract art, uses reduced geometrical forms - sometimes in black and white contrasts and sometimes with very brilliant colors. During the time 1960 to 1970, Op Art even made its way into fashion design. However, it was greeted with a certain degree of scepticism by the critics.

Pop Art, an abbreviation for Popular Art began in Britain and the United States in the 1950s. The Pop Art movement wanted to bring art back into the daily life of people. It was a reaction against abstract painting, which pop artists considered as too sophisticated and elite.

Pop Art is a direct descendant of Dadaism in the way it mocks the established art world by appropriating images from the street, the supermarket, the mass media, and presents it as art in itself.

Postimpressionism is a French art movement that represented both an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of that style's inherent limitations. The term was coined by British art critic Roger Fry to refer to a group of nineteenth-century painters, including Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, who were dissatisfied with the limitations of expressionism.

All of these painters except van Gogh were French, and most of them began as Impressionists. However, each of them abandoned the style to form his own highly personal art.

Impressionism was based on the recording of nature in terms of the effects of colour and light. The Post-Impressionists rejected this limited aim in favour of more ambitious expression, admitting their debt, however, to the pure, brilliant colours of Impressionism, its freedom from traditional subject matter, and its technique of defining form with short brushstrokes of broken colour.

The Pre-Raphaelite art movement was originally founded by Holman Hunt and John Everett Millaisa in 1848. The name was decided upon as the group aimed to rediscover the painting styles of artists working earlier than the time of Raphael. They rejected industrialized England and focused on painting from nature, producing detailed, colorful works. Pre-Raphaelitism was highly successful during the Victorian era and continued into the early 20th century.

Realism, also known as the Realist school, refers to objective representation. This nineteenth century art movement, developed in France, rejected the formulas of Neoclassicism and the theatrical drama of Romanticism to paint familiar scenes and everyday subjects.

Renaissance meaning "rebirth" in French is that art movement which began in Italy in the 14th. It describes the revival of interest in the artistic achievements of the Classical world. Initially in a literary revival Renaissance was determined to move away from the religion-dominated Middle Ages and to turn its attention to the plight of the individual man in society.

It was a time when individual expression and worldly experience became two of the main themes of Renaissance art. The movement owed a lot to the increasing sophistication of society, characterised by political stability, economic growth and cosmopolitanism. Education blossomed at this time, with libraries and academies allowing more thorough research to be conducted into the culture of the antique world.

Leonardo da Vinci was the archetypal Renaissance man representing the humanistic values of the period in his art, science and writing. Michelangelo and Raphael were also vital figures in this movement, producing works regarded for centuries as embodying the classical notion of perfection.

During the eighteenth-century, a new wealthy and influential middle-class began to rise. This Paris high society became the purveyors of style and this style, was primarily used in interior decoration, which came to be called Rococo. The term Rococo was derived from the French word "rocaille", which means pebbles and refers to the stones and shells use to decorate the interiors of caves. Therefore, shell forms became the principal motif in Rococo. The society women competed for the best and most elaborate decorations for their houses. Hence the Rococo style was highly dominated by the feminine taste and influence.

This European art style originated in reaction to the grandeur and massiveness of the baroque. It employed refined, elegant, highly decorative forms.

The Rococo is sometimes considered a final phase of the Baroque period.

Romanesque, a European art style developed in France in the late eleventh century, derived its name from inspirations of Roman architecture. Many cathedrals and churches consisted of a blending of Gothic/Romanesque elements. Its sculpture is ornamental, stylized and complex.

This European art movement developed during the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century. The movement embraced the art of the Gothic period. Eventually responsible for the great Neo-Gothic building period of the later years of the century. The subject matter was invested with drama and usually painted energetically in brilliant colors. The emphasis of Romanticism is on emotional expression. It is a deeply-felt style which is individualistic, beautiful, exotic, and emotionally wrought.

Surrealism is an art movement which began in France during the 1920s and 1930s.

Surrealism is a modern art movement that emphasizes the unconscious, the importance of dreams, the psychological aspect in arts. It sought to explore the unconscious, often using images from dreams.

It was founded in Paris in 1924 by André Breton.

Symbolisim also known as Synthetism flourished from around 1885 and continued until 1910. This painting movement flourished in France featuring decorative, stylized, and evocative images.

The styles of the Symbolist painters shared many of the same themes particularly a fascination with the mystical and the visionary. The erotic, the perverse, death and debauchery were also regular interests for the Symbolists.