Painting Schools The term painting schools is used to describe various styles of painting develop ed over several centuries.

Painting schools are generally described to include works of European and American artists, though they could apply to other groups as well. Among the first of the recognized painting schools is that of Baroque art, which refers to European art of the 16th to 18th centuries, when painting w as realistic, but was embellished with a high degree of ornamentation. The Abstract Expressionist school of painting refers to a style which applied ex pressionism to abstract art. This painting school is represented by Jackson Pol lock who used brilliant colors in totally abstract meanderings across the canvas . Additional painting schools in recent eras include the painting schools of Cub ism and Expressionism. Picasso developed the painting school of Cubism, which r epresents an subject from several perspectives at once. The Expessionism school of painting was developed in Germany and Austria, and is one of the painting sc hools which uses vivid colors, in this case in distorted images. Fauvism, another of the painting schools which evolved in France from Impression ism involved formal composition, and included Pointilism. This painting school is represented by Seurat and Pisarro. Another of the painting schools which originated in France early in the 20th cen tury is that of Neo-Impressionism, typified by the works of Matisse who pained in the bright, violent colors typical of this painting school. The Pop Art painting school is typified by images taken from modern culture, inc luding advertising themes and images from the media in general. An important art ist in the development of this painting school was Roy Lichtenstein. Another of the painting schools which includes a number of artists, including th e famous Grandma Moses is the Primitive school of painting. This school of paint ing is best described as involving very direct, often powerful images which capt ure the attention because of their strength rather than as a result of fine tech nique. Another very different artist representing this painting school is the Fr ench painter, Henri Rousseau All of the various painting schools have avid devotees, and each of the painting schools developed over time has produced masterworks which hang in museums thro ughout the world. Excellent prints of paintings typifying each of the various pa inting schools described briefly here can be obtained from museums and art galle ries and can be displayed to enhance the homes of art lovers.