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Baroque - In the 1600s and 1700s, the art of "divine" kings and popes—and of revolutionaries and Reformers—tells the story of a Europe in transition. In the Catholic south, Baroque bubbled over with fanciful decoration and exuberant emotion. In the Protestant north, art was more sober and austere. And in France, the excesses of godlike kings gave way to revolution, Napoleon, and cerebral Neoclassicism.

All Episodes

The Modern Age

Artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Dalí express the complexity of our modern world.

Baroque

The art of "divine" kings and popes tells the story of a Europe in transition.

The Renaissance

Around 1400, Europe rediscovered the aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome.

The Middle Ages

Europe spent 1000 years in its Middle Ages after Rome fell and rebounded Around A.D. 1000.

Ancient Rome

The Romans gave Europe its first taste of a common culture—and awe-inspiring art.

Stone Age to Ancient Greece

As the Ice Age glaciers melted, European civilization was born—and with it, so was art.

About Rick Steves' Art of Europe

Rick Steves Art of Europe weaves Europe’s greatest masterpieces into an entertaining and inspiring story. From prehistoric cave paintings to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome; through a thousand years of Middle Ages to the Renaissance; and from extravagant Baroque to the tumultuous 20th century, we’ll see how Europe’s art both connects us to the past and points the way forward.