HISTORY OF PAINTING - ART - 2026

The history of painting dates back more than 64,000 years approximately, according to a recent study of cave paintings found in various caves in Spain. To determine the age of these drawings, the well-known uranium-thorium dating test of carbon crusts was used.

The cave paintings are in three caves, each one with different drawings, images or paintings: La Pasiega in Cantabria, which contains figures of all kinds of animals; Maltravieso in Extremadura, where the rubbings or stencils represent hands, points and other geometric figures; and Ardales, Andalusia, in the speleothems painted red.

Cave painting, La Pasiega cave, Cantabria.

The study suggests that these cave paintings were made by Neanderthals, since they are more than 20 thousand years old when modern man arrived in Europe.

This means that the rock art of the Iberian Peninsula is the oldest so far found in the whole world.

Introduction

Throughout history, man has used painting to express ideas and emotions through a two-dimensional visual language. This language has different colors, tones, lines, shapes and textures, to produce different sensations of space, volume, light and movement.

In the history of painting, from the Neanderthals to the present day, many elements of different nature have influenced, such as religion, geography, the discovery and development of new materials, ideas and important events. All this configures in the artist a certain way of seeing the world.

Painting is undoubtedly a way of describing and recording reality. It has served to reflect the material and ideological changes that have taken place in the world, always revealing details beyond the written word.

After the first paintings, his development has been a constant and inseparable chain of styles, adding elements to the art of those who preceded him.

Periods, styles and evolution

Cave painting

From the dating of the caves in Spain it is inferred that Neanderthals and modern humans may have painted rock art in the caves. Furthermore, it indicates that human ancestors employed more advanced symbology than previously thought.

The Spanish rock art in these and other caves such as Altamira, mainly comprises red and black paintings. Animals (deer, bison and birds), geometric shapes and linear signs are represented, as well as templates (traces) and handprints.

The first human beings decorated the walls of the caves where they lived with images of subjects that were very important to them: their food and the way they obtain it through hunting.

That is why they represent bison, reindeer and mammoths in the Ice Age, as well as their own images that they see reflected in the shadows on the walls.

Best known caves

Apart from the caves of La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales, there are other very important ones. Among the caves best known for their antiquity are those of Chauvet (France), whose age is dated at about 31,000 years; and the Altamira and Lascaux caves (France).

Altamira has a carbon date of 13,000 years, while that of Lascaux is 17,000 years old. In addition to these, there are many more around the world.

In these caves the walls and ceilings are decorated with paintings of reddish tones, black, brown, yellow and black. The paintings were created with powdered mineral oxides, which were surely mixed with the fat and blood of animals. The motifs are game animals and wild cattle (horses, servants, bison).

Apparently the cave painting was not only decorative but also magical-religious. It is believed that it was used to help hunting and also the trance of shamans.

Egyptian painting (from 3100 BC)

The Egyptian civilization was the first to establish a recognizable artistic style. It was characterized by following a strange but consistent structure, in which the head, legs and feet of human figures are always shown in profile. Instead, the shoulders, torso, arms, and eyes are depicted from the front.

Egyptian painting techniques remained intact for centuries. One of the methods used was to place the watercolor paint on plaster or limestone walls.

The other process consisted of cutting out the contours on stone walls and painting the designs with watercolors. The dry climate of the region and the sealed tombs aided in its preservation.

Mesopotamian painting (from 3200 to 332 BC)

Mesopotamian civilization developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Near East. Its constructions are mainly made of clay, for this reason buildings are not preserved because they have all collapsed and the murals that adorned their buildings have also been destroyed.

Only decorated ceramics (painted and lit) and colorful mosaics have been preserved. Although mosaics are not considered painting, they did influence the forms of painting in this civilization.

The Aegean civilization (3000-1100 BC)

This is the third great primitive culture. It developed on the islands off the coast of Greece and on the Asia Minor peninsula. The Aegean civilization was contemporary with the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians.

In their palaces in Knossos and other regions, they painted on wet plaster walls with paints made from oxides, sand and ocher earth. They were the forerunners of frescoes. The Cretans painted red, bright yellow, blue, and green.

Classical Greek and Roman painting (1100 BC to 400 AD)

The Greeks decorated their temples and palaces with wall paintings. They used to paint small pictures with which they made mosaics. Very little Greek painting has survived to the present day, due to time and the destruction caused by wars.

The Greeks painted little on tombs as the Egyptians did, for this reason the works were not protected.

On the other hand, the wall paintings of the Romans were made mainly in the villas or country houses in the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but in 79 both cities were completely buried in the lava of the volcano Vesuvius.

Roman paintings were made on previously prepared marble and plaster surfaces. In general, they did not have original motifs but were copies of other Greek paintings from the 4th century BC. C.

Later painting styles

After the prehistoric painting of the Greeks, Mesopotamians and Romans, other styles of pictorial art emerged, listed below:

- Byzantine and early Christian painting (300-1300 AD).

- Medieval painting (500-1400).

- Italy with Cimabue and Giotto (late 13th century).

- Late medieval painting (north of the Alps in the early 15th century).

- Italian Renaissance painting.

- Florence and Venice (XV century).

- Rome (16th century).

- Renaissance in Flanders and Germany.

- Baroque painting (17th century).

- Spain (XV and XVI centuries).

- Flanders (XV and XVI centuries).

- Holland (17th century).

- 18th century painting (including Rococo painting from France).

- 19th century painting (France, Holland).

- 20th century painting (Spain, France, United States).

References

1. U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art. Retrieved April 23, 2018 from science.sciencemag.org
2. The History of Painting. Consulted from scholastic.com
3. The History of Painting. Consulted from tate.org.uk
4. Painting. Consulted from britannica.com
5. History Painting. Consulted of artsy.net
6. The Origin of Painting. Consulted of projectionsystems.wordpress.com