Art

Painting is an art which involves application of color on a surface such as canvas, paper, wall, lacquer, etc. Painting can be combined with drawing, composition and several aesthetic features to bring out a unique and beautiful impression. The oldest paintings claimed to be around 32,000 years old can be found at the Grotte Chauvet in France. These pieces of art are painted and engraved using black pigment and red ochre and they depict wild animals such as lions, rhinoceros, buffalos and mammoth. During prehistoric period, men painted animals as a way of catching their sprits in order to hunt them more easily.

What gives painting its allure is the representation and perception of intensity since each and every point of an art contains a different level of intensity. Painting is a fundamental skill which every artist should possess if he wants to produce masterpieces of art. With the start of the industrial revolution in 19th century, many styles of arts and movement were developed reflecting the fast changing pace of the society. Impressionism is the first form of modern art starting in 1800s in France (Klein, 2001). These painters did their work on open ground and analyzed the effects of light on their work. Fauvism is another art style composed of wild and vivid colors. The expressive colors used by these painters produced designs that used a combination of a cluster of pure colors.

Expressionism is a modern form of fauvism used by the Germans and painters used colors of different intensity on their work. Art Nouveau is a modern art which started as a movement in France in early 1990s. It was composed of decorative styles and it covered other forms of art such as furniture architecture, jewelry, and glass. Fine example of this style of painting can be found in subway entrances in France and glass works done by Emile Galle in the U.S. Art Deco movement is a style that succeeded the Art Nouveau and it was more simplified  and concentrated on mass production of artistic products (Klein, 2001). This style was highly dominant in furniture, architecture, fashion, interior decoration and commercial print-making. In New York, the Chrysler building (1930) is a good example showing art deco painting style in architecture.
Cubism is a modern art style that focused basically on painting and sculpture. First developed by Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard, and Georges Braques from France, this painting had a strong background of tribal arts found in Africa. It favored fragmentation and geometrical forms and many features of a single object were shown simultaneously. The father of abstract art was Wassily Kandinsky, a painter born in Russia. He searched for modern forms of visual and spiritual impression. Abstract paintings used bold color and a clear experimentation of depth and tone.

Pop-Art movement is modern style of art which aimed at returning art back to the lives of people. It grew as a reaction to abstract painting which was considered too complicated and sophisticated. Pop artist such as Roy Lichtenstein favored to produce prints which reflected the daily lifestyles of people by use of comics or articles used in advertising. In addition, serigraphy was incorporated, a photo realistic technique of mass production of prints. After entering into the media and advertisement, fine art increased the similarities of fine art and commercial art (Klein, 2001).