Neoclassicism
"The one way for us to become great, perhaps inimitable, is by imitating the ancients."
Neoclassicism is the 18th and 19th century movement that developed in Europe as a reaction to the excesses of Baroque and Rococo styles that were dominant in the previous era. The movement sought to return to the classical beauty and magnificence of the Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Neoclassical art is based on simplicity and symmetry and takes its inspiration from the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann who believed that art should aim at the ideal forms and beauty of Greek art. Explore the Neoclassicism movement by starting from What is Neoclassicism? and browse our curated list of artworks from neoclassicism painters such as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and others.
Neoclassicism Quotes
The one way for us to become great, perhaps inimitable, is by imitating the ancients.
Winckelmann
Drawing is the honesty of art. To draw does not mean simply to reproduce contours: drawing does not consist merely of line. Drawing is also expression, the inner form, the plane and modeling. See what remains after that. Drawing includes three and a half quarters of the content of painting.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
A paintings is not completely finished until the artist has separated the spirit from body.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
In the arts the way in which an idea is rendered, and the manner in which it is expressed, is much more important than the idea itself.
Jacques-Louis David
Unity and simplicity are the two true sources of beauty.
Winckelmann
Grace can never properly be said to exist without beauty; for it is only in the elegant proportions of beautiful forms that can be found that harmonious variety of line and motion which is the essence and charm of grace.
Winckelmann
