Discover all genres

You can categorise paintings in different ways. For instance, by artist, style, or technique. Or, if they are on the same topic, you can also group them by type. This is what we call a genre.

A painting that depicts an important story or event from history or mythology, the Bible, or literature. It was considered the most difficult genre because it relied on more than technical perfection; it also required extensive knowledge and a fertile imagination.

Portraits can be divided into several types: self-portraits, group portraits and the ‘tronie’, a study of a face or a portrait of an imaginary person, such as Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Paintings of things that don’t move or hardly move at all. A vase of flowers. A bowl of fruit and a fly. Still lifes weren’t painted only to show one’s talent, but also to convey a message.

One might describe genre paintings as scenes of ordinary people doing ordinary things. They’re fun to look at, and often contain a hidden message.

Trees, rivers, meadows with cows and, of course, the famous cloud-filled Dutch skies. In the 17th century, nature became an independent subject in painting for the first time.