The Arts and Crafts Movement began for several reasons. The low quality of manufactured items in England in the 1800's caused the reactionary move toward handcrafted, individually made goods. The style is similar to medieval art, influenced by the level of craftsmanship of medieval guilds.

The Impressionists adopted a critic's use of the word "impression" to describe their work. Their focus, particularly in painting, was the use of color to convey light and shadow. They influenced the Post-Impressionists and the Fauves.

Key Post-Impressionists included Cezanne, van Gogh, and Seurat. They were influenced by the Impressionists, and attempted to develop many Impressionist ideas. The Post-Impressionists influenced many art movements, including German Expressionism and Symbolism.

Art Nouveau developed in both Europe and the United States. Tiffany's work with stained glass and Antoni Gaudi's unique architectural style both had many elements from nature. These natural elements included flowers, leaves, and flowing, wavelike patterns.

Even if the image is not instantly recognizable as Vincent van Gogh, the piece of art has many of his hallmarks. This 1889 self-portrait features expressive colors, deep texture in the paint, and an emotional style. Van Gogh was one of the premier post-impressionists of the late nineteenth century, who took the emotional and innovative elements of Impressionism to new artistic ground.

This image, "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" by Hokusai, is one of the iconic and indelible images of Japanes art. Done in the ukiyo-e woodblock printing style, the print is in many copies throughout the world, and in the usual fashion of nineteenth-century Japanese art, it depicts a dramatic force of nature in a landscape. Additionally, its formalism and representational elements are indicative of art from the Edo period (1603-1867).

Romanticism was an artistic movement across many disciplines during the first part of the nineteenth century which was a reaction to the empiricism of the Enlightenment and the formalism of Neoclassicism. Works like Lord Byron's poem Don Juan celebrated a bold hero devoted to the good life. Frederic Chopin used folk melodies to create sweeping, emotional music for the piano and symphonies. Eugene Delacroix's The Massacre at Chios commemorated a moment in the nationalist uprising of the Greek Revolution.

The Salon was the absolute pinnacle of the French art world from 1725 to 1890. In the late nineteenth century, the committee in charge of what art work was shown at the Salon valued grand historical and dramatic landscape paintings done in a clean realist style. The Impressionists desired to make paintings of vivid emotion with visible brushstrokes about scenes of everyday life.

Expressionism and Cubism began in the 20th century. Becoming more popular after World War I, Modernism led to more abstract works. Neoclassicism began during the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century and recalled the art and culture of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds.

Andy Warhol's most famous works are screen prints of familiar images, often in odd or bright colors. Jasper Johns appropriated national symbols in his paintings, but in altered forms. Roy Lichtenstein directly copied panels from comic books, down to the dialogue. All of these methods are representative of Pop Art, a 1950s and 60s artistic movement that sought to use popular forms and new technologies to change the nature of high art.