Art of the Western World

The Greeks created a classical ideal against which all subsequent art would be measured; Rome's genius lay in architecture and civil engineering. Featured: the Parthenon, the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, the Pantheon, the sarcophagus of Juius Bassus.

Romanesque art and architecture were shaped by two powerful forces: pilgrimage and the monastic movement. Later, Gothic cathedrals were filled with divine light. Featured: Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vezelay, sculpture of Gislebertus.

In Florence, classical themes were reborn and merged with Christian values. In the north, the Flemish masters worked in a new medium: oils. Featured: Donatello, Fra Angelico, Brunelleschi's dome, Claus Sluter, the Isenheim altarpiece, Jan van Eyck, Durer.

Papal patronage made Rome a vibrant center of art once more. In Venice, the great artists were preoccupied with theatre, nature, and classical style. Featured: Da Vinci's Last Supper, Michelangelo's David, Titian, Tintoretto, Palladio's villas.

The Counter-Reformation inspired an artistic revival and an exuberant new style. In royal courts, artists expressed the power of the monarch. Featured: Caravaggio, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Belvedere Palace, Rubens, Velazquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt.

As society revolted against decadence and corruption, artists turned again to classical Greece. The romantic painters in turn elevated individual expression. Featured: Watteau, Syon House, David's The Death of Marat, Ingres, Delacroix, The Third of May.

Once scorned and despised, impressionist paintings today are among the most familiar images in art. Postimpressionists broke new ground with their radical use of color. Featured: Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Deurat's Sunday Afternoon.

Rapid advances in science, thought, and technology led to the secessionists, fauves, and cubists. Dada rejected everything, and architecture went international. Featured: Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye.

The center of the art world moved to New York, home to abstract expressionism. Artists reacted to postwar society with a bewildering array of styles, and postmodernism mined the past for ideas. Featured: Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol