National Galleries of Scotland

Classicism

A general term for art and architecture based on ancient Greek and Roman culture.

Composition

The arrangement of different elements in a work of art.

Cubism

A style of painting originated by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the first two decades of the 20th century. Instead of painting a figure or object from a fixed position they represented it from multiple viewpoints.

School of Paris

A loosely affiliated group of artists working in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century up to the Second World War. The term initially referred specifically to non-French artists who had settled in the city but was later used more generally. Artists associated with group are regarded as innovators of modern art, working in styles as diverse as Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Art. They include Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Modigliani.