15 art movements and their historical origins

A Quartz article examines 15 major art movements—from Romanticism to Neo-Expressionism—and argues that each was a direct response to a specific historical crisis. Romanticism emerged from the disillusionment with Enlightenment rationalism and the Industrial Revolution. Realism arose amid the 1848 revolutions and the rise of photography. Impressionism reacted against the rigidity of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War. Post-Impressionism followed as a further break from naturalism. Fauvism and Expressionism channeled anxiety about modernity and urban alienation. Cubism reflected the fragmentation of World War I and new scientific theories. Futurism glorified speed and technology in pre-war Italy. Dada was born from the horror of World War I. Surrealism explored the unconscious after Freud. Abstract Expressionism emerged from post-World War II existentialism and Cold War tensions. Pop Art critiqued consumer culture in the 1950s-60s. Minimalism reacted against Abstract Expressionism's emotionalism. Postmodernism questioned grand narratives after the 1960s. Neo-Expressionism returned to figuration in the 1970s-80s amid economic crisis. The article frames each movement as a zeitgeist-driven response to its era's defining upheavals.