Painting Styles



The main purpose of art is to create and raise personal ability in self-connection to the world. No culture can exist without any constructive approach to life. The art is developed through the great amount of crisis. That fact provided the full sense of different art conceptions and transformations.

Jacques-Louis David

If to talk about the Neoclassicism, it is necessary to dwell upon such famous French painter as Jacques-Louis David. He performed greatly during the French Revolution (1789-1799) and had a close association with the Committee of Public Safety. David admired Napoleon from their first meeting. The General Bonaparte entrusted him many governmental affairs.

Neoclassicism continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It came after the Baroque style and turned over the whole painting world. All splendors were substituted for severe lines and forms. Neoclassicism brought symmetry and reflection. It cut down the luxuries both in painting and public life. Extra power of the Catholic Church became limited, and its glorification vanished. Reformatory movement penetrated the Christian Church and provided current trends.

In 1812, David painted The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries. This politically formed artwork demonstrates the leading tendencies in that period. The detail drawing came to his head. The paintings were worked over diligently. Older masters had flights of their thoughts in works. Neoclassicism indicated only dry and firm lines or forms. Napoleon was represented in quite a portrait style, without imaginary heroism. His clothes completely responded that era, and he is more realistic.


Impressionism as the art movement acting in 19th century is opposite to Neoclassicism. It paid no attention to the details. The main objective was in producing colors, shadows and light. Impressionists denied realism.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

A French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir created Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-1881). In terms of this painting, it can be found out the uncompromising desire to emphasize the importance of universal union between people and the environment. Renoir caught the momentary state of nature. People are organic with this state. Figures have no strict shape. They just dissolve in the air. All the colors are local. If an observer sees the green color in Neoclassicism, that means only green color cast. Impressionism demonstrated that the green color varies from bright to dark, from clear to mixed, from light to heavy. Merging of paints has no restriction. It is the free-flight state.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism developed in the 1940s. It is a postwar art movement. The wartime was greatly introduced in this movement.

Jackson Pollock

In the Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) painted by Jackson Pollock in 1950, the upper responsibility of that era is shown. Expressionists tried to reproduce the emotional state which prevailed over the realism. Thai is a common feature of Impressionism. It is even more distant from Neoclassicism, and it is realistic reflection of the environment. The main aim is to demonstrate expression and mood of the inner life. The individual psychology controls Expressionism. The given painting indicates how people overcome the autumn state. Drastic lines and forms convince us of the expressive break between autumn and summer. Some impression of fear and danger, ragged soul, dirt and disgust, depression and chaos come across different perception.

It is only the art that can so easily rule over the main human feelings and emotions. Various art movements prescribe the new wave in cultural education and social life.

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