The Museum
A field guide to the things people kept
RelicTracker's history of art — written for people who would rather own the thing than read about it.
History
- 1600–1750BaroqueExcess as a statement of power
- 1730–1770RococoPlayful where Baroque was grand
- 1750–1830NeoclassicalRestraint, borrowed from antiquity
- 1837–1900Victorian & HistorismusA century that could not decide which past to live in
- 1880–1920Arts and CraftsHonest joinery against the machine
- 1890–1910Art NouveauThe line, applied to everything
- 1905–1935ExpressionismForm pushed until it carries feeling
- 1920–1939Art DecoGeometry, in lacquer or in chrome
- 1945–1969Mid-Century ModernHonest materials, honestly joined
- 1920–1985ModernismDesign that treated ornament as a problem to solve
- 1970–1990Post-ModernModernism, quoted back at itself
Dates are approximate by nature — objects outlive the century that made them. Every search links to the collection for that query.