Techniques and materials
How a work is made affects how it looks. Oil paint, fresco and bronze offer entirely different possibilities.
Until the 15th century, painters worked on wood in tempera, in which the pigments are bound with egg yolk, or directly on wet plaster in fresco. Oil paint, perfected by Flemish painters, dries slowly and can be applied in translucent layers. It made it possible to paint sheen, skin and depth as never before.
The 19th century brought paint in tubes, which made it possible to paint outdoors. The 20th century added acrylics, collage, readymades, photography, video and installations. Today almost any material can become art.