Paintings are just few of the media which can show the evolution of art over the past centuries. Many artworks were even made during the prehistoric times when cavemen painted animals and rituals on their cave walls. At present, other styles of painting are widely used like abstract, expressionism, landscape, and symbolism. The abstract technique of painting plays with color and form that it communicates a theme that is in a non-figurative way. Abstracts are originally connected to the futurist and cubist artworks of the 20th century. Creations like these present the viewers a simplified form of shapes and figures that they only give inherent qualities instead of the external appearance of the subject. Abstract creations can also be called as non-objective, non representational and non-figurative art. Some critics say that such creations can depict cultural phenomenon. Wassily Kandisky, one of the most known painters in the world specializing in painting abstracts said that, in abstract painting, an artist should possess high sensitivity and a sense of true poet to create a good abstract masterpiece.

Expressionism art, on the other hand, is a style in which a painter exaggerates or twists an image of reality in order to achieve an intense emotional effect. This technique is not only used in painting but also in other art forms like film, literature, music, and even architecture. The art of expressionism often portrays masterpieces whose main subject center most on torment and emotional anguish. Even though the name “expressionism” originally pertains to the artworks of the 20th century, it is not exclusive to this century alone. This form of art has always been connected to the paintings found in Germany during the early centuries so it was believed that expressionism was already a recognized art even before it became popular in other parts of the world.

The next style of painting is landscape whose name came from the Dutch word ‘landschap’. This word originally means ‘a part of a cultivated rich land with a picturesque view’, thus the idea of landscapes. Common landscape subjects are mountains, forests, rivers, and valley sceneries. This type of technique had been most popular even during the Roman times when breath-taking sceneries are often painted on the frescoes. During the 15th century in Europe, landscape painting was seen as a special field of expertise. Landscape art was also effectively used in mapping and documenting newly found lands during the early years of the 20th century.

The last type of painting technique is “symbolism”. This style of painting is one of the most popular artistic movements that originated from French and Belgian poetry during the 19th century. Symbolism art has always been described as a crossover of naturalism and realism art because of its ability in capturing reality even though it uses subjects that subtly symbolizes the message of an artwork. Symbolism is different from abstract art in such a way that the symbolism gives more solid connection to the subject and the message while abstract art plays with the subconscious mind of its viewers.

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