The Art Genome Project
The Art Genome Project is the classification system and technological framework that powers Artsy. It maps the characteristics (we call them “genes”) that connect artists, artworks, architecture, and design objects across history. There are currently over 1,000 characteristics in The Art Genome Project, including art historical movements, subject matter, and formal qualities.
Artistic Disciplines
Subject Matter
- Abstract Landscape
- Adolescence
- Advertising and Brands
- African Diaspora
- Allegory
- Alter Egos and Avatars
- Americana
- Anatomy
- Animal Portrait
- Animals
- Anthropomorphism
- Antiquity as Subject
- Architecture's Effects
- Arrivals/Departures
- Artist as Ethnographer
- Atmospheric Landscapes
- Attenuated Figure
- Bars and Restaurants
- Bathers
- Bedrooms and Bathrooms
- Bible Story
- Body Parts
- Caricatures and Parody
- Celebrity
- Censorship
- Childhood
- Circus/Carnival
- City Scenes
- Cityscapes
- Cityscapes and City Scenes
- Classical Figure
- Classical Mythology
- Collective History
- Conflict
- Consumerism
- Contrapposto
- Crime
- Cross-Cultural Dialogue
- Crowds
- Cultural Commentary
- Decay
- Deep Time
- Deities and Holy Figures
- Delegated Art
- Diaristic
- Digital Culture
- Disaster
- Dreams / Altered States of Consciousness
- Engaged with Byzantine and Medieval Art
- Engaged with Communist Visual Culture
- Engaged with European Old Masters
- Engaged with Pre-Columbian Art
- Engaged with Traditional African Art
- Engaged with Traditional Chinese Art
- Engaged with Traditional Islamic Art
- Engaged with Traditional Japanese Art
- Engaged with Traditional Korean Art
- Engagement with Mass Media
- Equestrian
- Erotic
- Eye Contact
- Face
- Failure
- Family
- Femininity
- Fertility/Pregnancy/Birth
- Figure Studies
- Figure from the Back (Rückenfigur)
- Figures in Nature
- Figures of the Art World
- Flora
- Focus on the Social Margins
- Food
- Gender
- Glamour
- Globalization
- Grotesque
- Group Portrait
- Group of Objects
- Group of Portraits
- Haze
- Hugs and Kisses
- Human Figure
- Humor
- Hybrids and Imaginary Creatures
- Implied Narrative
- Improbable Physics
- Individual Portrait
- Industry
- Infographics and Diagrams
- Institutional Critique
- Interiors
- Interlaced Bodies
- Intersectionality
- Isolation/Alienation
- Kawaii
- Kitsch
- Landscape and Nature Photography
- Landscapes
- Language
- Leisure
- Light as Subject
- Line, Form, and Color
- Love
- Machines
- Madonna and Child
- Manga
- Maps/Networks
- Masculinity
- Math
- Medical/Health
- Migration
- Modes of Transportation
- Mortality
- Mourning and Commemoration
- Movement
- Mutated Bodies
- Mysticism, Shamanism, and the Occult
- Mythology and Religion
- Narrative
- Natural History
- Nature
- Nautical
- Nostalgia
- Nude
- Obsolescence
- Outer Space
- Parties and Celebrations
- People at Home
- Performing Arts
- Personal Histories
- Personal Writing Systems
- Personification
- Political
- Political Events
- Political Figures
- Popular Culture
- Portrait
- Portraits without a Face
- Provocative
- Psychoanalysis
- Racial and Ethnic Identity
- References to Art History
- Reflections
- Related to Fashion
- Related to Film
- Related to Games
- Related to Hip-Hop
- Related to Literature
- Related to Music
- Related to Punk
- Related to Religion
- Related to Toys
- Representations of Architecture
- Representations of Everyday Objects
- Royal/Court Commission
- Royalty and Aristocracy
- Rural Life
- Saints
- Scenes of Everyday Life
- Science
- Science Fiction
- Seduction and Courtship
- Self as Subject
- Self-Portrait
- Sex
- Sexual Identity
- Shadows
- Silhouettes
- Skyscapes
- Southern Gothic
- Spaces of the Art World
- Sports/Athletics
- Still Life
- Stolen Moments
- Suburbia
- Surveillance
- Symbolic Composition
- Talismanic
- Technology
- Text
- The Abject
- The Afterlife
- The American West
- The Art Market
- The Artist's Studio
- The Body
- The City
- The Domestic and Domesticity
- The Elements
- The Environment
- The Fantastic
- The Seasons
- The Senses
- The Sublime
- Time
- Times of Day
- Traces, Indexes, and Implied Presence
- Trauma and Struggle
- Travel/Tourism
- Unsettling
- Urbanization
- Utopia
- Vacant and Vacated Spaces
- Violence
- Virtue and Vice
- Visual Perception
- War and Military
- Water
- Waterscapes
- Work and Workers
- Zoomorphism
Styles and Movements
- "Bad Painting"
- '85 New Wave
- 19th Century American Art
- 19th Century American Paintings and Works on Paper
- 19th Century French Academy
- 19th Century German Realism
- 20th Century Art
- Abstract Art
- Abstract Expressionism
- Abstract Painting
- Abstract Photography
- Abstract Sculpture
- Abstract versus Figurative Art
- Abstraction-Création
- Action Painting
- Afrofuturism
- American Impressionism
- American Modernism
- American Prints 1880–1950
- American Realism
- American Regionalism
- American Sculpture 1830–1950
- American Tonalism
- American Works on Paper 1880–1950
- Art Brut
- Art Deco
- Art Informel
- Art Nouveau
- Arte Povera
- Ashcan School
- Barbizon School
- Baroque
- Bauhaus
- Bay Area Figurative Art
- Beijing East Village
- Bengal School of Art
- Black Arts Movement
- Black Mountain College
- Body Art
- CalArts
- Capitalist Realism
- Chicago Imagists
- Chicano Art
- Cluj School
- CoBrA
- Colab
- Collaborations and Collectives
- Color Field Painting
- Conceptual Art
- Conceptual Art and Contemporary Conceptualism
- Concrete Art
- Constructivism
- Contemporary Academic Realism
- Contemporary African Art
- Contemporary Archaeological
- Contemporary Art
- Contemporary Asian Art
- Contemporary British Art
- Contemporary Canadian Art
- Contemporary Ceramics
- Contemporary Chinese Art
- Contemporary Color Fields
- Contemporary Conceptualism
- Contemporary DIY
- Contemporary Fact versus Fiction
- Contemporary Fauvist
- Contemporary Faux Naïf
- Contemporary Feminist
- Contemporary Figurative Drawing
- Contemporary Figurative Painting
- Contemporary Gestural Abstraction
- Contemporary Glass
- Contemporary Gothic
- Contemporary Graphic Realism
- Contemporary Grotesque
- Contemporary Impressionist
- Contemporary Indian Art
- Contemporary Latin American Art
- Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Art
- Contemporary Minimalist
- Contemporary Modernist-Type Photography
- Contemporary Op Art
- Contemporary Participation
- Contemporary Photography
- Contemporary Pop
- Contemporary Portrait Painting
- Contemporary Portrait Photography
- Contemporary Re-creations
- Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography
- Contemporary Scandinavian Art
- Contemporary Surrealistic
- Contemporary Traces of Memory
- Contemporary Turkish Art
- Contemporary Use of Textiles
- Contemporary Vintage Photography
- Cubism
- Cynical Realism
- Dada
- Dansaekhwa
- Danube School
- Dau Al Set
- De Stijl
- Deconstructivism
- Deutscher Werkbund
- Die Brücke
- Documentary Film
- Documentary Travel Photography
- Dusseldorf School of Photography
- Dutch and Flemish
- Early Computer Art
- Early Renaissance
- East Village Art
- Emerging Art
- Expressionism
- Fashion Photography
- Fauvism
- Faux Naïf
- Feminist Art
- Feminist Art and Contemporary Feminist
- Figurative Art
- Figurative Painting
- Figurative Sculpture
- Fluxus
- Folk Art
- Funk Art
- Futurism
- Geometric Abstraction
- German Expressionism
- Gestural Abstraction
- Gothic Art
- Graffiti and Street Art
- Grand Manner
- Group Material
- Group Zero
- Group f/64
- Gutai
- Happenings
- Harlem Renaissance
- High Renaissance
- Hudson River School
- Hyperrealism and Photorealism
- Iconic Works of Art History
- Identity Politics
- Impressionism
- Impressionism and Contemporary Impressionist
- Japanese Erotic Prints
- Japanese Photography
- Japonisme
- Kanō School
- Land Art
- Landscape Photography
- Light and Space Movement
- Luminism
- Mannerism
- Medieval Art
- Mexican Muralism
- Minimalism
- Minimalism and Contemporary Minimalist
- Modern Jewelry
- Modern Photography
- Modern and Impressionist Art
- Modern and Impressionist Prints
- Mono-ha
- Nabis
- Neo-Conceptualism
- Neo-Concrete Art
- Neo-Dada
- Neo-Expressionism
- Neo-Geo
- Neo-Impressionism
- Neo-Plasticism
- Neoclassicism
- Net Art
- Neue Sachlichkeit
- New American Color Photography
- New American Documentary Photography
- New British Sculpture
- New Leipzig School
- New Topographics
- New York School
- Nineteenth Century French Realism
- Northern Renaissance
- Nouveau Réalisme
- Nul Group
- Old Master Drawings and Prints
- Old Master Influenced Fantasy
- Old Masters
- Op Art
- Orientalism
- Orphism
- Outsider Art
- Pattern and Decoration Movement
- Pictorialism
- Pittura Metafisica
- Pointillism
- Political Minimalism
- Political Pop
- Pop Art
- Post-'70s Ego Generation
- Post-Impressionism
- Post-Internet Art
- Post-Painterly Abstraction
- Post-War American Art
- Post-War European Art
- Post-World War I European Classicism
- Post-World War II School of Paris
- Postminimalism
- Pre-Raphaelites
- Pre-World War II School of Paris
- Precisionism
- Process Art
- Progressive Artists' Movement
- Purism
- Relational Aesthetics
- Renaissance Art
- Rinpa School
- Rococo Art and Design
- Romanticism
- School of London
- Shin Hanga
- Social Action
- Social Realism
- Socialist Realism
- Soviet Nonconformist Art
- Spatialism
- Spiral Group
- Street Photography
- Suprematism
- Surrealism
- Symbolism
- Synchromism
- The Aesthetic Movement
- The Blue Rider
- The Mundane
- The New Fauves
- The Pictures Generation
- The Stars Art Group (Xing Xing)
- Traditional Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Transavanguardia
- Ukiyo-e
- Venetian School
- Vienna Secession
- Viennese Actionism
- Washington Color School
- Women Artists
- Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Yale University School of Art
- Young British Artists (YBAs)
- Zaire School of Popular Painting
Design Movements
- 20th Century Furniture and Design
- American Furniture and Design
- American Mid-Century Design
- American Studio Craft Movement
- Art Deco Furniture and Design
- Art Nouveau Furniture and Design
- Arts and Crafts Movement
- Brazilian Furniture and Design
- British Furniture and Design
- Brutalism
- Contemporary Furniture and Design
- Danish Furniture and Design
- Dutch Furniture and Design
- French Furniture and Design
- International Style
- Italian Furniture and Design
- Memphis Design
- Modern Design
- Modern and Contemporary Design
- Modern and Contemporary Fashion Design
- Post-War French Design
- Postmodern Architecture and Design
- Scandinavian Furniture and Design
- Union des Artistes Modernes
- Wiener Werkstätte
Visual Qualities
- Abstract Illusionism
- Allover Composition
- Angular
- Arabesque/Scroll
- Asymmetrical
- Balance
- Biomorphic
- Black and White
- Blown-Off-Roof Perspective
- Blurred
- Bright and Vivid Colors
- Bulbous
- Calligraphic
- Color Gradient
- Columns and Totems
- Contour Line
- Cracked
- Creased Crinkled Wrinkled
- Crystalline and Geological Forms
- Curvilinear Forms
- Dark Colors
- Dense Composition
- Divisionist
- Dotted
- Dynamism
- Earth Tones
- Emphasis on Linear Perspective
- Extreme Angle
- Flatness
- Fractal-like / Kaleidoscopic
- Fragmented Geometry
- Geometric
- Glittery
- Grid
- Hard-Edged
- Highly Detailed
- Highly Ornamented
- Iridescence/Opalescence
- Irregular Curvilinear Forms
- Irregular Linear Forms
- Layered Images
- Linear Forms
- Marbleized
- Metallic
- Mimicking Ruined Materials
- Mirrored
- Molecular
- Pastel Colors
- Patinated and Oxidized
- Patterns
- Piles/Stacks
- Pixelated
- Primary Abstraction
- Primary Colors
- Psychedelic
- Radiating Lines
- Raw versus Finished
- Rough
- Scattered Composition
- Sharp/Prickly
- Shiny/Glossy
- Single Object
- Slender
- Slumped/Draped
- Smooth Surface
- Sparse
- Stained Glass Effect
- Striped
- Symmetrical
- Tangled Forms
- Transparent/Translucent Medium
- Viscous Forms
- Woven/Perforated
- Wrapped
Medium and Techniques
- Aerial View
- Album, Folio and Fan Formats
- Altarpiece
- Altered and Substituted Canvases
- Analogue Filmmaking
- Animation
- Appropriation
- Arabic/Farsi Calligraphy
- Archaeological Object
- Art That Plays With Scale
- Artist's Frame
- Artists’ Books
- Automatism
- Bentwood
- Black-and-White Photography
- Body Casts/Body Prints
- Books and Portfolios
- Burned/Charred
- Camera Obscura
- Caravaggesque
- Carving
- Chance
- Chiaroscuro
- Cinematic
- Close-Up
- Collage
- Collecting and Modes of Display
- Color Photography
- Color Theory
- Comic/Cartoon
- Computer-Aided Manufacturing
- Copies and Emulations
- Cut/Ripped
- Dance
- Delicate Materials
- Densely Textured or Haptic Surface
- Design/Architecture Study
- Digital Art
- Digital Painting and Drawing
- Digital Print
- Digital as Manual
- Digitally Manipulated
- Divinatory Objects, Talismans, and Amulets
- Documentary Photography
- Drawing
- East Asian Calligraphy
- East Asian Ink-and-Wash Painting
- Embossed Paper
- En plein air
- Encaustic
- Endurance Art
- Ephemera
- Erased and Obscured
- Etching/Engraving
- Extruded Design
- Film/Video
- Focus on Materials
- Folded Planes
- Found Footage and Found Video
- Fresco
- Frontal Perspective
- Generative Art
- Gestural
- Glass and Ceramics
- Glitch Aesthetic
- Gold Leaf and Gilding
- Handscroll
- Hanging Scroll
- Hatching
- History Painting
- Hyperrealism
- Illustration
- Imitated Material
- Immersive
- Impasto
- Installation Art
- Intaglio
- Intentionally Exposed Canvas
- Interactive
- Intricately Sculpted
- Kinetic Sculpture
- Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork
- Large-Scale Painting
- Large-Scale Photography
- Large-Scale Sculpture
- Light Art
- Lightbox
- Lithograph
- Long Distance and Deep Distance
- Long Exposure
- Mail Art
- Manipulated Photography
- Manuscript
- Maquette
- Mediated View
- Miniature and Small-Scale Paintings
- Mixed-Media
- Monochrome Painting
- Monotype/Monoprint
- Multiple Exposure
- Multiple Screens
- Multiple Styles
- Murals and Wall Drawings
- Negative Image
- Oil Painting
- Oil on Copper
- Oil on Panel
- Open Form
- Organic Material
- Outdoor Art
- Painting
- Painting and Writing Tools
- Panorama
- Paper Cut-Outs
- Passage
- Pastel
- Performance Art
- Photogram
- Photograph as Material
- Photographic Source
- Photographs of Surfaces
- Photography
- Photojournalism
- Photomontage
- Photorealistic
- Picassoesque
- Polychrome Sculpture
- Poster
- Poured
- Printed Matter
- Prints
- Process-Oriented
- Projection
- Pulled, Scraped, and Scratched
- Recycled
- Reduced-Scale Architecture
- Relief
- Rembrandtesque
- Repetition
- Research as Art
- Restored and Repurposed
- Screen Format
- Sculptural Use of Paint
- Sculpture
- Sculpture-Based Photography
- Sfumato
- Shallow Depth of Field
- Silkscreen
- Site-Specific Art
- Snapshot Aesthetic
- Soft Sculpture
- Sound Art
- Splattered/Dripped
- Spray Paint
- Staged Photography
- Stains/Washes
- Study
- Suspended/Hanging
- Tempera
- Time-Lapse Photography and Film
- Tondo
- Topographic Photography
- Traditional Photographic Techniques
- Traditional Scroll Painting
- Transfer
- Trompe l’oeil
- Typography
- Typologies
- Use of Traditional Techniques
- Virtual and Augmented Reality
- Wall Sculpture and Installation
- Watercolor
- Website
- Woodcut and Linocut
- Work on Paper
Time Periods
- 1000 - 1400 CE Art
- 15th Century Art
- 16th Century Art
- 17th Century Art
- 18th Century Art
- 1900 - 1917 Art
- 1918 - 1939 (Interwar) Art
- 1940s-1950s Art
- 19th Century Art
- 500 - 1000 CE Art
- Ancient Art
- Art of the 1960s
- Art of the 1970s
- Art of the 1980s
- Art of the 1990s
- Art since 2000
- Contemporary
- Late 19th Century Art
- Modern
- Prehistoric Art
Geographic Regions
- American Art
- Andes Region Art
- Art of Latin America and the Caribbean
- Asian Art
- Australian and New Zealand Art
- Austrian Art
- Beijing Artists
- Belgian Art
- Berlin Artists
- Brazilian Art
- British and Irish Art
- Brooklyn Artists
- California Art
- Canadian Art
- Caribbean Art
- Caucasus Art
- Central American Art
- Central Asian Art
- Chinese Art
- Cuban Art
- Dutch Art
- East African Art
- East European Art
- East German Art
- Eastern Mediterranean
- Egyptian Art
- Flanders and Luxembourg
- French Art
- French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname
- German Art
- Greek Art
- Hong Kong Art
- Indian Art
- Iranian Art
- Iraqi Art
- Israeli Art
- Italian Art
- Japanese Art
- Korean Art
- Latin American Art
- Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine
- London Artists
- Los Angeles Artists
- Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian Art
- Mexican Art
- Middle African Art
- Middle Eastern and North African Art
- New York Artists
- North African Art
- Pakistani Art
- Paris Artists
- Portugese Art
- Russian Art
- San Francisco Artists
- Scandinavian Art
- South African Art
- South Asian Art
- Southeast Asian Art
- Southeast European Art
- Southern Cone Art
- Spanish Art
- Swiss Art
- Taiwanese Art
- Tibetan Art
- Tokyo Artists
- Turkish Art
- West African Art
Materials
- Aluminum
- Assemblage
- Bone
- Brass
- Bronze
- Cardboard
- Ceramic
- Chalk
- Chrome-Plated
- Concrete
- Enamel
- Found Objects
- Gemstone
- Glass as Material
- Gold
- Inlay
- Ivory
- Leather/Hide
- Marble
- Metal
- Mosaics
- Natural Fibers
- Neon and Fluorescent Light
- Plaster
- Plastic
- Porcelain
- Resin
- Silver
- Stained Glass
- Steel
- Stone
- Taxidermy
- Terracotta
- Use of Common Materials
- Use of Ephemeral Materials
- Use of Paper
- Use of Precious Materials
- Use of Vintage Imagery
- Wood
Design Concepts and Techniques
- CAD (Computer Aided Design)
- Children's Furniture and Design
- Design by Architects
- Design by Artists
- Emerging Design
- Engineering/Construction and Design
- Focus on Joints/Connections
- Handcrafted Furniture and Design
- Iconic Works of Design
- Jewelry by Painters and Sculptors
- Masonry Construction
- Modular Design
- Non-Functional Design
- Reinforced Concrete Construction
- Religious Building
- Restrained Forms
- Steel/Iron Frame Construction
- Sustainable Design
- Timber Frame Construction
- Whimsical Design
- Women Designers
Cultural and Religious Styles
- Aboriginal Art
- Ancient Egypt
- Art of Burma
- Art of Tonga
- Art of the Congo
- Art of the Ivory Coast
- Art of the Upper Paleolithic
- Asante Art
- Aztec Art
- Bamileke Art
- Benin Art
- Buddhist Art and Architecture
- Byzantine Art
- Cambodian Art
- Celtic Art
- Cheyenne Art
- Christian Art and Architecture
- Early Medieval Art
- Eastern Zhou Dynasty
- Edo Art
- Etruscan Art
- Greek Art and Architecture
- Greek and Roman Art and Architecture
- Guatemalan Art
- Han Dynasty
- Heian Period
- Hellenistic Art
- Himalayan Art
- Hindu Art and Architecture
- Hopi Art
- Iban Art
- Igbo (Ibo) Art
- Indonesian Art
- Islamic Art and Architecture
- Kushan Empire
- Maranao Art
- Mayan Art and Architecture
- Mbole Art
- Meiji Art
- Mende Art
- Mesopotamian Art
- Ming Dynasty
- Minoan Art
- Moche Art
- Mughal Art
- Mycenaean Art
- Native American, First Nations, and Alaska Native Art
- Northern and Southern Dynasties
- Oku Art
- Ottoman Art
- Papua New Guinea Art
- Phoenician Art
- Pre-Columbian Art
- Qing Dynasty
- Roman Art and Architecture
- Romanesque Art
- Shang Dynasty
- Song Dynasty
- Sui Dynasty
- Tang Dynasty
- Thai Art
- Traditional African Art
- Traditional Oceanic Art
- Western Zhou Dynasty
- Yaka Art
- Yombe Art
- Yoruba Art
- Yuan Dynasty
- Yup'ik Art