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Contemporary painting brings together various techniques of oil, acrylic, watercolour and mixed media, which is a combination of many different mediums. Even well into the 21st century it remains the most widely used artistic medium in art history. Discover the contemporary painters of KAZoART who choose to use it as a means of expression.
David, Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Ingres, Delacroix, De Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Turner, Picasso, Morisot, Chagall, Dali, Braque, Gauguin, and Van Gogh are all internationally known and recognised painters. But why and how do their works stand the test of time? Talent is essential but it is not the only deciding factor that ties together art history.
Contemporary painters bring a new vision to art by purposefully disturbing the visual habits of the spectator and refusing to follow the artistic traditions of the time. The painters who will leave their mark will be those who constantly seek to renew themselves, daring to start from scratch and rewrite history.
As part of a movement and style specific to their time (i.e. neo-classical, realist,etc.), contemporary painters sought to revolutionise and redefine genres. At the same time, they had to be attentive to the social constructs of their time, in the broadest sense of the word, while keeping an enlightened and visionary mind.
Watercolour is undoubtedly the oldest of all and remains the most widely used in the world by artists (used by Leonardo da Vinci, Eugene Delacroix and Albrecht Dürer). It experienced a resurgence in the 19th century thanks to painters such as William Turner, Paul Sisley and Carl Larsson.
Oil painting is long considered to be the noblest of techniques and was widely used from the Renaissance to the present day, crossing periods and movements (realistic, impressionist, romantic, cubist, surrealist).
Acrylic paint appeared in the 20th century and changed contemporary painting as we know it due to its ability to dry rapidly and the wide range of colours in which it was available. It was a great success with the Pop-Art artists and gradually replaced the oil technique.
Whatever the technique used, the canvas remains contemporary painters’ preferred medium, even though fresco paintings stayed in style until the 20th century. It is precisely in the 20th century that famous contemporary painters who were part of the cubists, dadaists, surrealists, etc. began mixing techniques and gradually abandoned the canvas in favour of other mediums (wood, paper, metal, objects, etc.).