Human interest in paintings shaped our perception as a species, but the art form is not new or modern. Throughout history, people have created and enjoyed paintings, drawings and sculptures. Using art to convey information about family traditions and cultural beliefs is an ancient tradition.

The word “painting” refers to the act of applying paint to a surface. It also refers to the finished piece itself. Paintings are made using many different materials, including oils, acrylics and watercolors. Most paintings are painted on canvas or wood, though some are painted directly onto walls.

The origins of painting date back 20,000 years ago in Africa. Cave paintings were discovered in Tanzania that depict animals such as rhinoceros and elephants wearing decorative patterns on their skin and horns. The presence of these paintings suggest that early man believed that painting could transform his environment or influence the behavior of others.*

There are a couple of basic ways in which art can be used. One of them we might call “documentation.” That’s the way most science is done now, and it’s what the people who work on paleontology and archaeology are doing. They’re taking pictures and making notes about things that have already happened. They’re covering their own time, or the time of their predecessors.

This is important work. It’s necessary to know what things were like before we came along, so we can make good decisions about how to move forward from this point in history. It also helps us learn about ourselves as a species, by seeing where we’ve been. The problem with this approach is that it’s still pretty much limited to professional scientists. They need access to labs and computers and all kinds of expensive equipment in order to do their job. And if you want to look at something very old, usually you need a lot of money in order to move it around safely and not damage it more than necessary while you get your picture.

Art is documentation by amateurs. It was once the primary way information was passed from generation to generation, because anyone could do it. It was free; all you needed was something to draw with and something to draw on.

For the longest time, artists and art aficionados were primarily men. The thought of women being interested in art was unheard of. However, that has changed over the years. You can see this by the fact that there are more women at art school today than men. With the change in attitude toward women in the arts, you can likely see a shift in the nature of how art is perceived.

3. Artistic Uses

Art has been used for many different purposes throughout the centuries. With everything from cave drawings to paintings, it’s clear that people have used any and all methods to create something unique and beautiful. In particular, one thing to note about art is how it has changed over time. While earlier times were not as free as today’s society, we still see a shift in how various artists portrayed their subjects.

Unlike earlier times where artistic works were put on walls or were made into murals, they are now a lot more personal due to advances in technology. People could take their artwork with them wherever they went thanks to cameras, video cameras and cell phones with cameras built-in. Allowing us to capture our moments from different angles and perspectives than just one angle; allowing us to create our own version of reality through perspective.”

As the history of art and the development of human cultural thinking progressed, so did the use of art as a form of expression. In fact, it is believed that art became an essential part of early human behavior because it was a necessity. Unlike today, in early civilizations there were no written languages, so pictorial narratives were frequently used to communicate stories and important information to others. The earliest form of art was cave paintings and they were created with the intent to tell stories through pictures.

Visual representations such as cave paintings, rock carvings, and petroglyphs (chiseled or pecked designs on rocks) served as memory aids for the storytelling process. In fact, many anthropologists believe that these forms of visual communication are the foundation for all forms of communication today.

As time has passed, humans have continued to use art as a form of expression but have adapted it for other purposes such as religious ceremonies and celebrations, hunting magic, and personal expression through painting or drawing/writing.

As you can see from this history of art blog post from ArtAndTravel.com, there has been a continuous evolution in how we perceive art, which is still very much in effect today.

Most of the world has no written language. Instead, they have art. What is the history behind that? Are we missing something by not having art as part of our history?

Where did painting come from? According to most studies, humans have been painting for tens of thousands of years. The earliest cave paintings were created in France around 30,000 BC and the oldest known cave art is about 40,000 years old. This makes cave paintings some of the oldest known forms of human expression.

The paintings were done with red and yellow ochre which were made from iron oxide (rust) and red clay which was then painted on the walls to depict man hunting or animals being hunted. These paintings are said to be sacred and are attributed to a shamanistic religion. The fact that these paintings were so long ago suggests that our ancestors began to rely on more than oral tradition in order to pass on information.

This ancient form of communication was so important that it became a vital part of our culture and has remained so until today. It is used to make documents, laws, treaties and even war propaganda. And yet despite its importance as a historical document, very few have taken the time to study it as an art form….

Ancient art is a means of communicating, and the stories of indigenous peoples are often communicated through art. The African tribes that lived in the area of Namibia, for instance, painted animals to tell others their stories.

Their paintings provided information about their life and culture. Each tribe had its own unique way of telling its story through painting, and by studying these paintings, anthropologists have been able to learn a great deal about the past.

Art has been used to communicate for thousands of years. In fact, some anthropologists believe that art evolved as a way to communicate with other humans. The earliest cave paintings were used to pass vital information from one generation to another concerning hunting, food gathering, and even disaster warnings.

Telling stories is an essential part of human nature; we all like hearing a good story or sharing personal experiences with one another. Ancient artists knew this, and so they used symbols in their art to communicate their stories to others. This allowed them to pass an important means of communication from generation to generation.

The colors of many paintings are not as bright and vivid as we may imagine. This is due to the fact that early cultures did not have pigments in the same variety and intensity as those used today. When done properly, a painting’s colors can be restored to their original vibrancy.

Contemporary artists often use chemical paints to create their works. These paints have been manufactured in laboratories and consist of different pigments that are blended together. Pigments are naturally occurring substances that give paint its color. Many pigments found in nature contain cadmium or lead, which are toxic when used in large quantities.

Tertiary colors were created centuries ago by mixing primary colors with white pigment or black pigment, which creates a new color. For example, red and white or red and black make pink or purple, respectively.

Tertiary colors can be mixed together to create secondary colors such as orange and blue, which is called violet, or yellow and red, which is called green.*