Art movements

An artistic movement is an aesthetic current that brings together artists who share common principles, techniques, or a shared vision of art during a given period. These movements are often defined retrospectively by art historians and may span several disciplines such as painting, sculpture, or decorative arts.

The museums of France house works covering all the major movements: Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract art, and Contemporary art. The Joconde database allows you to explore these collections by artistic movement.

The Joconde database of the Ministry of Culture uses thematic descriptors and chronological periods to associate works with artistic movements. This classification is based on catalogue entries written by curators of the museums of France.

Yes, Dell'Arte allows you to browse by artistic movement. Each movement page presents a description of the current, the major artists associated with it, and the corresponding works held in the museums of France.

The collections of the museums of France are particularly rich in works from the Classical and Impressionist periods. Impressionism, a movement born in France in the 19th century, is naturally very well represented in the national collections, particularly at the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie.

An artistic movement refers to an organized current built around a manifesto or shared ideas. A style refers to the formal characteristics of a period or an artist. A school refers to a group of artists connected by a place or a common master, such as the Barbizon School or the School of Fontainebleau.

Movements are presented according to their main period of activity, from the Middle Ages to Contemporary art. Some movements overlap in time, as different artistic currents often coexisted and mutually influenced one another.

Some museums stand out for the richness of their collections for a given movement: the Musée d'Orsay for Impressionism, the Centre Pompidou for Modern art, the Musée Picasso for Cubism, or the Musée Fabre in Montpellier for Classical and Baroque painting.

The data comes from the Joconde database of the Ministry of Culture, which catalogues the works of the museums of France. Movement descriptions are written from reliable historical and encyclopedic sources, and artwork groupings are based on the official catalogue entries of the curators.

Dell'Arte offers an interactive map and filters by region and department. You can explore the works of an artistic movement held in museums near you and plan thematic visits around a current that interests you.

No, artistic movements often span several disciplines. Baroque encompasses painting as well as sculpture and architecture. Art Nouveau extends to decorative arts, furniture, and architecture. The museums of France hold works from all these fields for each movement.

France is the birthplace of many major movements: Classicism in the 17th century, Rococo in the 18th, Romanticism and Realism in the 19th, Impressionism in the 1870s, Fauvism and Cubism at the beginning of the 20th century, and Surrealism in the 1920s. The museums of France hold the most iconic testimonies of these movements.