7 Types of Art to Find in Museums, on the Street and Beyond

art museum — Art history encapsulates so much more than one wing of your local museum. Tom Werner / Getty Images

Walk into a museum, sit down to watch "The Nutcracker," glance at a graffiti wall or flip through a graphic novel, and you'll witness the world's many different types of art.

From traditional sculptures to digital installations, art is how human beings express creativity, share stories and connect across cultures and centuries.

Here’s a vibrant look at the many forms that artistic expression can take.

1. Visual Arts

The visual arts encompass everything you see: painting, drawing, sculpture and more. These forms focus on creating images or objects that communicate through sight.

Classic categories include fine art, decorative arts and applied arts, each with their own approach to style and material. From line drawing to three-dimensional art, visual arts have been a staple of human creativity since ancient Greece.

2. Performing Arts

The performing arts include forms like theater, dance and martial arts, where the artist's own body is the medium. These are slightly different from performance art, which is more conceptual and less narrative.

A dramatic performance or a ballet recital falls into the category of performing arts, showcasing storytelling through movement, voice and music. This art form brings audiences into the moment with energy and emotion.

3. Digital Art

With digital tools and advanced technology, artists are redefining creativity. Digital art spans digital painting, graphic design, animation and even playing video games as a narrative form.

The use of visual effects and software enables artists to create work that blends the virtual with the real, pushing the boundaries of what art can be.

4. Abstract Art

Abstract art ditches physical reality for emotions, ideas and geometric shapes. Artists like Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky embraced visible brushstrokes and bold forms to capture feelings rather than direct visuals.

Movements like abstract expressionism gave artists almost complete freedom to explore inner worlds on canvas.

5. Contemporary and Modern Art

Modern art generally refers to works made between the 1860s and the 1970s, while contemporary art covers anything after that.

These include conceptual art, installation art and even land art that uses natural landscapes (like the work of Andy Goldsworthy). Both embrace new ideas, unique perspectives and challenge traditional notions of art.

6. Pop and Street Art

Pop art burst onto the scene in the mid-20th century, turning everyday life into bright, relatable imagery. Think Andy Warhol’s soup cans.

Street art, meanwhile, lives outside galleries — spray-painted murals and stencils that speak directly to the public. These art forms blur the line between gallery and sidewalk.

7. Literary Arts

The literary arts cover everything written, from poetry to nonfiction. While less visual, this type of art uses language as its medium.

Think of works by authors from the Harlem Renaissance or the philosophical writings of Leonardo da Vinci — each reflecting the time, place, and soul of their creator.

Art Styles Through History

From Gothic art and Renaissance art to Baroque art and Art Nouveau, history is rich with art movements and types of art styles. These periods introduced elaborate ornamentation, organic forms and shifts in perspective.

Art Deco and Op Art, with their clean lines and optical illusions, followed into the 20th century, mirroring social and technological change.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.