In the course of the development of fine art several classic genres of paintings have been formed, which have acquired their own characteristics and rules.

Portrait is a realistic portrayal of a person, in which the artist tries to achieve a resemblance to the original. One of the most popular genres of painting. Most customers used the talent of artists to immortalize their own image or, wanting an image of a loved one, relative, etc. Customers sought to obtain a portrait likeness (or even embellish it) leaving a visual representation in history. Portraits of various styles are the most massive part of the exposition of most art museums and private collections. This genre also includes such a kind of portrait as a self-portrait – a picture of the artist himself, painted by himself.

Landscape is one of the popular painting genres, in which the artist strives to depict nature, its beauty or peculiarity. Different types of nature (the mood of the seasons and weather) have a vivid emotional impact on any viewer – it is a psychological feature of man. The desire for an emotional impression of landscapes has made this genre one of the most popular in artwork.

Architectural painting – this genre is much like landscape, but has a key feature: the paintings depict landscapes involving architectural objects, buildings or cities. A special direction is street views of cities, conveying the atmosphere of the place. Another direction of this genre is the depiction of the beauty of the architecture of a particular building – its appearance or images of its interiors.

Historical painting – a genre in which the main subject of paintings is a historical event or its interpretation by the artist. What is interesting – this genre includes a huge number of paintings on biblical themes. Since in the Middle Ages biblical subjects were considered “historical” events and the main customers of these paintings was the church. “Historical” biblical subjects are present in the work of most artists. The second birth of historical painting occurs in the times of neoclassicism, when artists turn to well-known historical subjects, events from the time of antiquity or national legends.

Battle paintingsBattle paintings reflect scenes of wars and battles. The peculiarity is not only the desire to reflect the historical event, but also to convey to the viewer the emotional elevation of the feat and heroism. Later, this genre also becomes political, allowing the artist to convey to the viewer his view (his attitude) to what is happening. We can see a similar effect of political emphasis and the power of the artist’s talent in the work of V. Vereshchagin.

Still LifeNatura is a genre of painting with compositions of inanimate objects, using flowers, products, utensils. This genre is one of the latest and was formed in the Dutch school of painting. Perhaps its appearance is due to the peculiarity of the Dutch school. The economic prosperity of the 17th century in Holland led to a desire for affordable luxury (paintings) in a significant number of the population. This situation attracted a large number of artists to Holland, causing fierce competition among them. Poor painters were inaccessible to models and studios (people in appropriate clothing). Drawing paintings for sale, they used improvised means (objects) for the composition of paintings. This situation in the history of the Dutch school is the reason for the development of genre painting.

Genre painting – the subject of the paintings are everyday scenes of everyday life or holidays, usually – with the participation of ordinary people. As well as still life it became common for Dutch painters in the 17th century. During the period of Romanticism and Neoclassicism the genre acquired a new lease on life, as paintings tended not so much to reflect everyday life as to romanticize it, to add a certain sense or morality to the subject.

Marina is a type of landscape that depicts sea views, coastal landscapes overlooking the sea, sunrises and sunsets on the sea, ships or even naval battles. Although there is a separate battle genre, nautical battles still belong to the marina genre. The development and popularization of this genre can also be attributed to the Dutch school of the 17th century.

Animalistic painting – a feature of this genre is the creation of realistic paintings depicting the beauty of animals and birds. One of the interesting features of this genre is the presence of paintings depicting non-existent or mythical animals. Artists who specialize in depicting animals are called animalists.

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