Art history

You’ve seen the drawing of human evolution showing a procession of monkey, ape, primitive and modern man? Well, somewhere along that line early man could be shown holding a paint brush and a chisel. Mankind has been making art for at least 100,000 years. Why was the earliest art made? What might it have once meant? "Prehistoric" refers to a time before writing, which makes these questions particularly difficult to answer—but fascinating to contemplate.

3000 B.C.E. - 400 C.E.: The Great Pyramids at Giza, the Parthenon in Athens, the Colosseum in Rome and more.

400-1400: This was the period during which Christianity first flourished in Europe. Christianity—and specifically Catholicism in the Latin West—brought with it new ways of seeing the world while often rejecting the traditions and learning of the ancient world.

Studying the Art of the Islamic world is challenging—partially because of the large geographic and chronological scope of Islam. Islam has been a major religion and cultural force for over fourteen centuries and continues to be so today.

1400-1600: In part, the Renaissance was a rebirth of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture. It was also a period of economic prosperity in Europe—particularly in Italy and in Northern Europe. In 1517 a German theologian and monk, Martin Luther, challenged the authority of the Pope and sparked the Protestant Reformation. By challenging the power of the Church, and asserting the authority of individual conscience, the Reformation laid the foundation for the value that modern culture places on the individual.

1600-1800: The monarchs of Europe embraced the most ornate elements of 17th-century art. Rulers invested vast resources on elaborate church facades, stunning, gold-covered chapels and strikingly-realistic painting and sculpture. While in the newly independent Dutch Republic, a market emerged to meet the Protestant tastes of the growing merchant class. By the 18th century, Voltaire, Rousseau and other intellectuals had put forward Enlightenment ideas that would spark an age of revolution and usher in the modern world.

Here's where you'll find art from the ancient cultures of North and South America (and what we call Mesoamerica) through the period of European colonization and independence—and into the 19th century.

People use the term “modern” in a variety of ways—often very loosely, with a lot of implied associations of new, contemporary, up-to-date, and technological. The development of capitalism, urban culture, technology, and a growing middle class had an enormous impact on art.

This is the era of "isms"—Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and more. The avant-garde is unleashed in the 20th century and explores both abstraction and representation as a means to "represent" the radical changes, violence, alienation, and beauty that characterize the century.

1970-the present: Beuys, Hirst, Hadid and more.

This section looks at the art and cultures of Imperial China (for ancient China please see the section, "Ancient Art and Civilizations" above), Hindu and Buddhist from South Asia, the great temple and palace complexes of Southeast Asia, and the art and architecture of Korea and Japan. Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker of Smarthistory together with leading art historians, and our museum partners have created hundreds of short engaging conversational videos and articles, making Khan Academy one of the most accessible and extensive resources for the study of the history of art.

Discover the diverse arts of Africa from select cultures and time periods on the world’s second largest continent.

Oceania is a vast area of the Pacific Ocean that includes the island regions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.