Conclusion
Going into this project I believed that the Middle Ages held artists back and it was in the Renaissance that they were finally able to express themselves. I am modifying my original belief. Through this project I learned that there was creativity and self expression in every period of art, there had to be. I believe that the Middle Ages was indeed the most restrictive period in history, because of the way the church responded to realistic images, but what I did not know was that the Renaissance was restrictive as well. Art flourished, yes, but it was all at the hands of the patrons, they controlled where art went because when they commissioned a piece of art they were looking for something specific. I think where the real change occurred during the impressionist movement, because it was at that point that artists had to fight to be recognized. No longer could they paint an exact copy of the person or scene that was right in front of them, they had to alter their work, and this alteration, I believe, is what ended up changing the course of art's history and created what we know today to be "art." Impressionism broke through the box that artists were put in, and because of it, artists have to continue to push through walls, and create works that are innovative, and new. Making it so that art is constantly changing, and artists are constantly moving forward.