The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines art as the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.http://east.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art Since the development of human communities, man has attempted to enhance his surroundings with various types of arts such as architecture, photography, sculpture and painting. From the beginning, primitive man sketched pictorials of many areas of his daily life like hunting and herding.http://www.historylink101.com/lessons/art_history_lessons/cave_art1.htm Some art scholars believe that certain symbols and motifs in cave paintings were the start of religious worship.http://www.historylink101.com/lessons/art_history_lessons/cave_art2.htm Even today, art still records man's daily experiences and exploration of spiritual subject matters. However, modern artists have also expanded their works to include political, emotional and social subjects.

From ancient times until the Byzantine period, art had a stylistic appearance. Although the common man's life was shown in the early days, art changed over time to focus on the activities of royalty. Likewise, paintings and sculpture began to clearly illustrate the religious belief of their cultures. Egyptian, Greek and Roman art are examples of this. The period of art associated with the Byzantine Empire (c. 330 - 1450) expands on the same concepts and includes illuminated manuscripts and mosaics.http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFERENCE/THEARTS/ArtMvmtsandPeriods.html

Eventually, artists began to move away from reproducing only stylistic and symbolic forms. They began to give their subjects a naturalistic rendering. However, the subject matter during this time still focused on royal and religious imagery. Yet, there was a gradual change in art that started to include emotion even in the religious renditions. The realist period took art full circle by bringing back the common man as a subject of art.

• Gothic: (12th to 13th century) Started in France and moved away from purely stylistic renditions

• Renaissance: (c. 1400 - 1600) Began in Italy and focused on a mixture of classical forms and science

• Mannerism: (c. 1520 - 1600) Formed in contrast to the classical concepts of the Renaissance and featured elongated forms, highly contrasted colors and little white space

• Baroque: (17th to 18th century) Introduced the concept of trompe l'oeil (an artistic technique that gives the optical illusion of 3 dimensions) and focused on dramatic lighting and dynamic posing

• Rococo: (18th century) Started in France and featured secular themes rendered in an opulent, ornate style

• Neoclassicism: (18th to 19th century) A revival of the classical style that focused on composition and harmony

• Romanticism: (18th to 19th century) Formed in contrast to neoclassicism and focused on emotional content and heroic themes

• Realism: (19th century) Brought back the trials and tribulations of the average man as a theme of art instead of religious and military figures

Some art scholars believe that impressionism marks the beginning of modern art.http://www.artelino.com/articles/modern_art_periods.asp At this time in art history, artists returned to observing their every day life. They attempted to record various aspects of the environment such as how the change in position of light effects a subject. By the 1900's, art turned inwards to explore the human psyche.

• Impressionism: (19th century) Began in France and featured the exploration of light and color captured on the fly from nature

• Post-impressionism: (19th century) Included diverse styles that occurred as a reaction to impressionism such as pointillism and fauvism

• Art Nouveau: (19th century) Featured stylized forms with curvy compositions

• Expressionism: (20th century) Focused on expressing emotion by using energetic paint strokes

• Cubism: (20th century) Used abstracted fragments and different points of view to represent a scene

• Ashcan School: (c. 1908 - 1918) American artists that highlighted urban life in New York

• Dada: (c. 1915 - 1923) Tried to break all the established rules of line, composition and subject matter (such as displaying a toilet seat as an art piece)

• Surrealism: (c. 1920s - 1930s) Originated in France and focused on examining the deeper human psyche (as well as dreams and fears)

• Art Deco: (c. 1920s - 1930s) Was a graphical stylized art form that spread from the art world to commercial advertisement

• Abstract Expressionism: (c. 1940s) Was a break from the traditional concepts of art (showed no recognizable figures) and focused on the physical act of expression with artistic mediums

• Pop Art: (c. 1950s) Mixed pop culture and mass media in satirical and comedic ways

• Minimalism:(c. 1950s) Art that had mechanical, linear structures with wide open spaces

• Op Art: (c. 1960s) Created optical illusions from the juxtaposition of lines, patterns and colors.

Contemporary art includes a wide range of vast art movements and periods. Some of them are photorealism, psychedelic, graffiti, hyperrealism and digital. Like the previous periods, the subject matters ranged the gambit of human emotion to political statements. Today, museums have even started to show art in digital forms as well.

• Photorealism: (c. 1960 - 1970) Tried to mimic the realism of photographs as closely as possible

• Psychedelic:(c. 1960) Was influenced by the hallucinogenic drug culture and political atmosphere of the 1960's

• Graffiti: (c. 1960) Art rendered on public buildings and structures such as bridges

• Hyperrealism: (c. 1999) Is based off of photographs but attempts to capture minute details and richer surfaces

• Digital: (c. 1990) Covers any art made from computers and other digital devices