three major movements in the history of art are medieval,renaissance and modern. the medieval period,which encompasses the time from around 600 AD into the 14 th century,is predominantly religious in nature. objects are not portrayed realistically,but as simple flat images. during the renaissance period,beginning in the late 14 th century and continuing into the 16 th century,artists developed a more realistic style . renaissance artists also discovered the use of perspective,which brought a three dimensional feeling to two dimensional artwork. prominent artists of this time were leonardo da vinci and janvan eyck.modern art ,which encompasses the impressionist and cubist movements,began in the late 19th century. rather then focusing on realism,artist explored the use of light, movement and color. modern artists include pablo picasso, claude monet and vincent van gogh.