History of painting

The Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in Kalimantan, Indonesia, has one of the oldest known figurative paintings. It shows a bull and is about 40,000 years old. The history of painting goes back to artworks made by early people long ago. It is found in every culture. Painting has a long tradition that goes back to Antiquity, though it has sometimes been interrupted. For thousands of years, across many lands, painting has kept changing and growing, and it continues into the 21st century. Until the early 20th century, painters mostly showed representational, religious, and classical subjects. After that, more abstract and conceptual styles became popular.

Painting in the East grew in much the same way as Western painting, but usually a few centuries earlier. African art, Jewish art, Islamic art, Indonesian art, Indian art, Chinese art, and Japanese art all had a big influence on Western art. Western art also influenced them.

Painting was first used for practical purposes. Later, emperors, private buyers, cities, and religious groups supported it. Eastern and Western painting later reached people among the aristocracy and the middle class. From the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, painters mostly worked for the church and wealthy nobles. Starting with the Baroque era, artists received private commissions from a better educated and more prosperous middle class. A famous example is The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer, made around 1657.

In the West, the idea of "art for art's sake" began to appear in the work of Romantic painters such as Francisco de Goya, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner. In the 19th century, the commercial art gallery grew in importance. In the 20th century, it became a major source of support for painters.

Pre-history

Main articles: Prehistoric art, Art of the Upper Paleolithic, Art of the Middle Paleolithic, and List of Stone Age art

Cave paintings in the Maros-Pangkep karst of Sulawesi show a wild boar hunt. They are estimated to be at least 43,900 years old. Experts describe this as "the oldest known depiction of storytelling and the earliest instance of figurative art in human history." The oldest known paintings are more than 40,000 to 60,000 years old. They were found in the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi, Indonesia. They are made from hand stencils and simple shapes. In 2018, scientists reported a painting of an unknown animal in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo. At that time, it was the oldest known painting of a real creature. On July 3, 2024, the journal Nature published research showing that cave paintings of anthropomorphic figures with a pig in Leang Karampuang are about 51,200 years old. This makes them the oldest known paintings in the world.

In Paleolithic times, people were rarely shown in cave paintings. Most paintings showed animals, including animals people hunted for food and animals that seemed strong, such as the rhinoceros or large Felidae, as in the Chauvet Cave. Sometimes, simple dots were drawn. Rare images of people include handprints, stencils, and human–animal hybrids. The Chauvet Cave in the Ardèche Departments of France has the most important preserved cave paintings from the Paleolithic era. They were painted around 31,000 BC. The Altamira cave paintings in Spain were made between 14,000 and 12,000 BC. They show, among other things, bisons. The hall of bulls in Lascaux, Dordogne, France, is one of the best known cave paintings. It dates to about 15,000 to 10,000 BC. No one knows for sure what the paintings mean. Some arrow-like symbols in Lascaux are sometimes thought to be calendars or almanacs, but the evidence is not clear. The most important work of the Mesolithic era was the marching warriors, a rock painting at Cingle de la Mola in Castellón, Spain. It dates to about 7000 to 4000 BC. The earliest known Indian paintings were rock paintings from prehistoric times. These include the petroglyphs found in places like the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, some of which are older than 5500 BC. Later, in the 7th century, carved pillars at Ajanta in Maharashtra state showed fine examples of Indian paintings. Their colors were mostly shades of red and orange, which came from minerals.

Eastern

See also: History of Eastern art

The history of Eastern painting has been shaped by many cultures and religions. Its development was similar to that of Western painting, but usually a few centuries earlier. African art, Jewish art, Islamic art, Indonesian art, Indian art, Chinese art, Korean Art, and Japanese art all influenced Western art. Western art also influenced them. Chinese painting is one of the oldest art traditions in the world that has continued without a break. Its earliest paintings showed patterns and designs instead of pictures. Artists began to show the world around them during the Warring States period (403–221 B.C.). Korean painting began around 108 B.C., near the time when Gojoseon fell. Later styles included paintings in the tombs of Goguryeo's royalty.

East Asian painting is closely connected to calligraphy and printmaking. It often uses water-based methods, prefers landscapes to people, and values empty space. Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most carefully developed of the Japanese arts. In the 1st century AD, the Han court official Cai Lun invented paper. This made painting cheaper, so more people could enjoy it. The ideas of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism also played important roles in East Asian art.

Western

See also: Western painting and Ancient art

Western painting has a long history. Ancient Egyptians painted temple walls, tombs, and papyrus. They often did this to help the dead in the afterlife. Ancient Greek and Roman artists painted pottery, walls, and wooden panels. Roman wall paintings from places like Pompeii still exist today. During the Middle Ages, Christianity shaped painting. Artists made icons, mosaics, frescoes, and illuminated manuscripts. From the 1400s, painters in Europe began to paint more realistically. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo improved drawing and painting during the Renaissance. Later, Baroque painters used strong light and dark shadows to show drama and emotion.

From the 1700s onward, painting took many new directions. In the 1800s, artists painted nature, everyday life, and the feelings of the modern world. Some of these movements were Romanticism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. In the 1900s, painters created many new styles. These included Cubism, abstract art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop art. At the beginning of the 21st century, painting continues in many different styles. Artists are free to work in whatever way they choose.

Americas

Main articles: Native American art, Maya art, Pre-Columbian art, Painting in the Americas before Colonization, Plains hide painting, and Ledger art

Before and after Europeans explored and settled the Americas, Native peoples across North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean islands, including the Lesser Antilles and other island groups, made many kinds of art. These included buildings, pottery, ceramics, weaving, carving, sculpture, painting, and murals, as well as religious and everyday objects. Each area had its own cultures, which made totems, religious symbols, and painted works for decoration and expression. African influence was especially strong in the art of the Caribbean and South America.

The arts of the Americas' Native peoples had a big effect on European art, and European art changed them in return, during and after the Age of Exploration. Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and England were strong colonial powers in the Americas during and after the 15th century. By the 1800s, cultural influence was moving both ways across the Atlantic.

Mexico and Central America

South America

North America

United States

Canada

Caribbean

Islamic

Main articles: Islamic art, Arabic miniature, Persian miniature, and Arabesque

Islam forbids showing people, animals, or other living beings, to protect believers from idolatry. So there is no religious tradition of painting or sculpture in Muslim culture. Instead, artists focused on Arabesque designs. These are mostly abstract patterns with geometrical shapes, or flower and plant-like forms. The designs are closely linked to buildings and calligraphy. They often decorate tiles in mosques or frame the text of the Koran and other books. Abstract art did not start with modern art. It appeared in earlier, barbarian, and non-western cultures long before. It is mainly a decorative or applied art. The illustrator M. C. Escher was inspired by this geometric, pattern-based art. Art Nouveau, including Aubrey Beardsley and the architect Antonio Gaudí, brought abstract floral patterns back into western art.

Even with this rule, some Muslim countries developed a rich painting tradition. It was not made on its own. It served as a companion to the written word. Iranian or Persian art, known as Persian miniature, focuses on illustrating epic or romantic stories. Persian illustrators avoided shading and perspective. They knew these techniques from earlier history before Islam, but they did not use them, so their images would not look like the real world. Their goal was not to show the world as it is. They wanted to create images of an ideal world of timeless beauty and perfect order.

Iran

See also: Persian calligraphy, List of Persian painters, and Iranian art

Pakistan

Main article: Culture of Pakistan

Oceania

Main article: Art of Oceania

Australia

Main articles: Aboriginal art, Art of Australia, List of Australian artists, and Visual arts of Australia

New Zealand

Main articles: Art of New Zealand and List of New Zealand artists

Africa

Main articles: African art, African tribal masks, and Tingatinga (painting)

Main article: Ethiopian art

See also: Picasso's African Period and Contemporary African art

Many traditional African cultures have not focused much on flat pictures. They often preferred sculpture and relief. Decorative painting in Africa is often abstract and geometric. Body painting and face painting are also found. For example, they are part of ceremonies of the Maasai and Kĩkũyũ peoples. Some villages still use cave painting in special ceremonies. The Kingdom of Kush in ancient Nubia, in what is now Sudan, made wall paintings and painted objects. The Christian tradition of painting in Ethiopia goes back to the 4th century AD, during the ancient Kingdom of Aksum.

At the start of the 20th century, artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Modigliani were inspired by African art. They saw in it strong, well-organized shapes and a lot of feeling and deep religious meaning. Today, many African artists follow Western art styles, so their paintings often look quite similar to Western artwork.