An Approach to Painting Genres

Academic hierarchy in the 17th century established history painting as the highest-ranking painting genre. It consists of representations of historical subjects, including sacred history, or subjects drawn from literature, and it experienced significant development from Neoclassicism onwards. Great events, great men (yes, above all men!) whose exploits, victories and conquests we remember, and who have used painting to perpetuate them through time.

Painting genres emerged from classifying or categorising painting according to its subject matter. With this activity and “Ephemeral Images. The Still Life”, we continue the series in which we can explore artistic genres through an online theoretical lecture, during which we will take a historical and theoretical journey, analysing the most representative works.

To complement this lecture, we will later visit the Museum, where works from the collection will take centre stage and provide a testament to the richness of each of the painting genres and their characteristics within the collection. More information about the visit, here.

Image: Marià Fortuny. The Battle of Tetouan, 1862–1866. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.