19th Century Art Throughout the 19th century, a number of revolutionary changes forever altered the face of art and those who produced it. Compared to previous artistic periods, the art produced in the 19th century was a mixture of restlessness, obsession with progress and novelty, and an incessant questioning, testing and challenging of all authority. Old certainties about art gave way to new ones, and all traditional values, systems and institutions were subjected to relentless critical analysis. At the same time, discoveries and inventions proceeded at an astonishing pace and made what was once impossible possible and real. But most importantly, old ideas quickly became obsolete and created a completely new artistic world, highlighted by extraordinary talents such as Vincent Van Gogh, Eugene Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Claude Monet. American painting and sculpture date back to the 19th century. The art originated in Paris and other European cities. However, it became more popular in the United States around the 19th century. Painting in the 19th century, still strongly influenced by the spirit of Romanticism, proved to be a much more sensitive medium for the kind of personal expression one would expect from the Romantic subjectivity of the time. At the beginning of the “modern period” stands the imposing figure of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), the great independent Spanish painter. With much debt to Velazquez, Rembrandt, and the wonders of the natural world, Goya occupies the status of an artistic giant. His artistic range ranges from the late Venetian Baroque through his brilliant impressionist realism to a late expressionism in which he darkly and powerfully distorts...... middle of paper ...... containing a subtle but explicit expression of two lovers tightly embracing with a kiss. In conclusion, 19th century art was composed of a sequence of competing art movements that sought to establish their own superiority, ideologies, and style within the European art community. These movements, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism, eventually spread far beyond the borders of Europe and made modern art an international entity that can still be felt in the art world today. Works Cited Holt, Elizabeth G. From Classicists to Impressionists: Art and Architecture in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966. Needham, Gerald. 19th century realist art. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Peillex, Georges. History of art: nineteenth-century painting. New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964.