Art is any piece of creative work that is used to portray images and express feelings. People have been making art for tens of thousands of years. Art is produced in many different forms, including photography, drawing and sculpture. Painting is one type of art that has been performed for at least 30,000 years.
Cave Painting
Contents
The most famous early paintings were discovered in 1940 in the Lascaux caves in France. The lifelike animal paintings include horses, reindeer, oxen and bulls. They are about 17,000 years old.
Mixing Paints
Prehistoric people made their own paints out of natural ingredients, such as earth, blood, plant juices and egg white. From about the 2nd century, CE, artists began making ‘tempera’ paint by mixing pigments with egg yolk.
Decorative Arts
Decorative arts include furniture, pottery, jewellery, metalware and glassware. Many civilizations have produced beautiful works of decorative art. The ancient Greeks, for example, were famous for their pottery. The pots were often painted in red or black with pictures of greet heroes.
Oil Painting
In the Renaissance (mid 1300s – 1500s), painters crushed up coloured minerals and mixed them with oil to make oil paints. Oil paints produce richer colours and dry more slowly than tempera.
Frescoes
A fresco is a painting which is made on the damp plaster of a building. The plaster dries quickly, so the artist has to work fast. The Italian artist Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) painted a famous fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, Italy.
Sculpture
A sculpture is a three-dimensional artistic work. Sculptures are made by carving stone, wood or other material. This marble sculpture of Moses was carved by Michelangelo in about 1513.
Van Gogh
The artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 90) painted Starry Night (right) in 1889. He was famous for his expressive use of colour.
Pop Art
In the 1950s and 1960s Pop Art became fashionable. On the left is Blam! By the American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 97).
GK Questions On Art and Painting
- The famous artist Michelangelo came from Italy. True or false?
Answer: True
- What was Van Gogh’s first name?
Answer: Vincent
- In what country are the famous Lascaux cave paintings
Answer: France
- were sculptures, cave paintings or frescoes made on damp plaster?
Answer: Frescoes
- The Lascaux cave paintings feature paintings of reindeer. True or false?
Answer True