Art is one of humanity’s oldest forms of expression. Long before written words, people carved symbols into stone, painted on cave walls, moulded clay figures, and danced around fires. Through art, humans explored identity, spirituality, beauty, power, and the emotional landscapes of daily life. Over thousands of years, the definition of art has expanded and shifted, but its fundamental purpose remains: to express, to communicate, and to connect.
Although art forms number in the dozens today, photography, digital art, installation, performance art, animation, architecture, and more traditional art theory commonly organise artistic expression into four primary types. These core categories help us understand the ways humans create and engage with art across cultures and historical periods.
At the same time, as art evolved, so did the debates about what constitutes “modern art.” When historians trace the roots of modernism, one artist’s name consistently rises to the top. A single controversial painting, unveiled in 1863, shook the foundations of the academic art world and became widely regarded as the birth of modern art.
This article explores both topics: the traditional four types of art and the artist whose radical break from tradition helped usher in the era of modernism.
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The Four Primary Types of Art
1. Visual Arts
Visual arts encompass creations meant to be seen. This category is the broadest and includes:
- Painting
- Drawing
- Sculpture
- Photography
- Ceramics
- Printmaking
- Architecture
- Film and video art
- Digital and multimedia art
Historically, the visual arts focused on representational forms, realistic depictions of people, landscapes, and events. However, with the rise of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists began to reject realism and embrace abstraction, symbolism, emotional distortion, and experimental techniques.
Today, visual art is defined not just by what is depicted but by how the work communicates ideas. From Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical precision to Jackson Pollock’s chaotic drips and Yayoi Kusama’s immersive infinity rooms, visual art continues to evolve, reflecting the diversity of human experience.
2. Literary Arts
Literary arts involve creative writing and the use of language to evoke emotion, explore ideas, or tell stories. This category includes:
- Poetry
- Prose
- Drama
- Novels
- Short stories
- Mythology and oral storytelling
Language is the medium, but imagination is the tool. Writers use rhythm, metaphor, narrative structure, and stylistic choices to create artistic expression. Literary arts can be performed, read privately, or integrated into other art forms like theatre and film.
Literature has historically been a mirror of society, reflecting political upheavals, cultural transformations, and the complexity of human psychology. From Homer’s epics and Shakespeare’s plays to contemporary writers like Toni Morrison or Haruki Murakami, literary art shapes our sense of identity and shared history.
3. Performing Arts
Performing arts involve live presentation, where the artist’s body, voice, or collaborative performance forms the artwork itself. This category includes:
- Dance
- Theater
- Music
- Opera
- Performance art
- Circus arts
- Choreography
Performing arts are unique because they exist in time rather than space. A dance or a musical performance cannot be touched or permanently captured in the same way a sculpture or painting can; it is ephemeral, unfolding moment by moment, often shaped by audience interaction.
Music is often considered the most universal of the performing arts, capable of conveying emotion without words and crossing cultural boundaries with ease. Theatre and dance, meanwhile, combine gesture, movement, and storytelling, creating shared experiences that have captivated audiences from ancient Greek amphitheatres to modern Broadway stages.
4. Decorative (or Applied) Arts
Decorative arts blend aesthetics with function. They include art forms traditionally associated with craftsmanship:
- Furniture design
- Textiles and fabric art
- Jewelry
- Pottery
- Glasswork
- Metalwork
- Interior design
Applied arts elevate everyday objects into works of beauty, shaping the environments in which we live. In many cultures, decorative arts hold equal or greater importance than visual arts, consider the intricate carpets of Persia, the lacquerware of Japan, or the ornate metalwork of ancient Egypt.
In the modern era, the boundary between decorative and fine art has blurred. Movements like Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, and contemporary design philosophy emphasise that functional objects can be as emotionally resonant and conceptually meaningful as traditional fine art.
Which Artist Considered His Artwork the Birth of Modern Art?
The phrase “birth of modern art” is often linked to French painter Édouard Manet (1832–1883), whose groundbreaking work Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (“Luncheon on the Grass,” 1863) challenged the artistic conventions of the 19th century so radically that many historians mark it as the moment modern art began.
Édouard Manet: The Rebel of the 19th Century
Manet lived during a period dominated by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which dictated strict rules about composition, subject matter, and painting techniques. Art was expected to follow classical themes, mythology, biblical scenes, and idealised figures rendered with smooth, invisible brushwork.
Manet rejected all of this.
When he submitted Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe to the Paris Salon, it was rejected for violating nearly every artistic standard of the time. The painting featured:
- A nude woman sitting casually among fully dressed men
- A modern, non-mythological setting
- Visible, loose brushstrokes
- Sharp contrasts and unconventional lighting
- A bold flattening of space
The work was scandalous, not only morally but artistically. Manet painted a nude woman as a real, modern person, not a goddess or allegory. He brought contemporary life into high art, asserting that the present world was worthy of artistic examination.
Why It Was Seen as the Beginning of Modern Art
Manet’s painting did more than provoke: it redefined what art could be.
It introduced several modernist ideas:
- Art should reflect contemporary reality, not rely on classical tradition.
- Technique and style can themselves carry meaning, not just the subject.
- The artist’s perspective and individual expression matter more than rules.
Manet himself considered the painting a bold declaration, a challenge to the establishment, and a new direction for art. His approach inspired the Impressionists, Symbolists, Post-Impressionists, and countless later movements.
Claude Monet once said that without Manet, none of the Impressionists would have existed. Picasso later referred to Manet as “the father of us all.”
Thus, while modern art has many influences, Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe is the work most commonly regarded as the spark that ignited the modernist movement.
Conclusion
Art in its many forms, visual, literary, performing, and decorative, remains one of the most powerful expressions of human creativity. These four types capture different dimensions of human experience, from the tangible to the performative, the intellectual to the emotional.
Across centuries, artists have pushed boundaries and challenged conventions. Yet few acted with as much boldness or lasting impact as Édouard Manet. By painting the modern world as he saw it, unapologetically and defiantly, Manet cracked the foundation of classical art and opened the door to the innovations of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and the entire spectrum of modern art that followed.
His vision redefined what art could be and, in doing so, helped shape the art of the world we live in today.
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