CLEP Humanities : Understanding Terminology That Describes Nineteenth-Century 2D Visual Art

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #422 : Clep: Humanities

Degas--the_ballet_lesson

The above painting is representative of what artistic movement?

Possible Answers:

Impressionism

Abstract Expressionism

Cubism

Pointilism

Surrealism

Correct answer:

Impressionism

Explanation:

This painting, Edgar Degas' "The Dance Lesson," was painted in 1879 and is a classic representation of impressionism. With its visible and broad brush strokes and its detached point of view, this painting features the hallmarks of impressionism, a painting style developed in France in the late nineteenth century. Degas preferred to call his artistic style "realism," because he believed his method of painting captured the realistic emotion of a scene, if not an exact representation of it.

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors