Key Events In Art History

Should the standards of their time affect the judgment of key events in the historical development of areas of knowledge and if so, to what extent? To address the validity of the claim, the historical development of areas of knowledge referenced in this knowledge question deals with the methodology in which disciplines have key events, which I will define as the distinct discovery or creation that forces the discipline to undergo the alteration of previous ideas, introduce new knowledge and perhaps reconsider knowledge now proven to be unfit for further usage. In addition, in this knowledge claim, the standards of their time refers to the mainstream culture that permeated society at the time of the discovery of the new knowledge, referring

In Art History, there are many revolutionary art pieces that stand as key events. However, what makes these pieces key events as opposed to just famous pieces is the new ideas it had introduced into the art communities, new techniques explored, and other knowledge that was synthesized and thus act as important milestones in the developmental history of art, for example the effect of Cubism and more specifically, Pablo Picasso, as a key event in art history. To fully appreciate and understand the importance of Picasso in the development of art, it is essential to take into account the cultural context of his time, the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist eras, artistic movements characterized by relatively small yet visible brushwork, open composition and emphasis on the depiction of light and movement often highlighting ordinary subject matter. Picasso, though born into this era, began to experiment with shape in his work to, in his own words, "rather construct something than to copy something", which was one of the key goals of Impressionism. This is especially evident in Still Life of A Violin which propelled the art world into the Cubism movement, which broke down objects into a set of forms and rearranged them to represent three-dimensional images of whole objects, often times showing multiple views of an object simultaneously to

One of the most famous artists who were considered unsuccessful during their own time was Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh embodied the failed, starving artist who produced over 2000 artworks, able to sell two within his lifetime. His post-Impressionist style, filled with emotion, movement and vibrancy, was not popular as he contrasted the mainstream Romantic period which placed emphasis on emotions such as apprehension, horror, terror, and awe. However, his art did go on to influence decades of artists that followed him and his artwork remains some of the highly regarded paintings in modern art. In contrast to his valueless presence during his lifetime, Van Gogh's contribution to art history is immensely valuable and propelled the development of a new art movement. Thus, this introduces the possibility that what defines something as a key event or development in the progression of an area of knowledge is not only its immediate impact, the standards in the time of discovery, but rather the lasting impression of the event and its contribution to its own area of