History of Decorative Painting

For centuries, man has used decorative paint to enrich and beautify his rooms, both
interiors such as his houses and exteriors, his facades, on furniture such as tables, chairs
or cabinets or objects such as vessels, sarcophagi, shields, etc....

Decorative paint is what we apply to decorate some utilitarian object, for everyday use, we
can talk about everything from a jug to a piece of furniture, that is, from a small to a large
surface. It can be made of wood, metal, ceramic, fabric, etc.

Origins and evolution

Although its origins are sought in Europe, we can say, by analyzing its application, that it
was born with the first civilizations, with primitive man, when he tried (whether to
identify himself, mark his territory, belongings or situation or simply express himself) to
leave His seal decorated the walls of the caves with scenes of hunting, rituals and customs
of their daily life, using the blood and fats of animals, vegetable fats, ash and pigments
that they extracted from the earth.

With the man himself it grew and perfected, thus using different materials. This is how
each culture developed with its own stamp, hence the different styles of each region and
each country. In all cases it is the intervention of the individual on the environment and
the objects that surround him through an artistic expression that over time has been
refined into techniques and styles.

The evolution of Painting in different everyday objects, including walls, develops

simultaneously in different cultures.

Since ancient times we can find remains of decorative painting in Egypt, Greece and Rome,
with the Romans being the ones who most successfully developed what we popularly know
as mural painting. We have an example of this in Pompeii, where beautiful decorations with
painting effects are still preserved. decorative painting; false reliefs, ornamental motifs,
architectural elements; false columns and sculptures, plinths, imitations of marble...

There are times in history that, due to their condition of social and geographical changes
in addition to wars, meant that the most disadvantaged layers of society had no place for
decorative painting, thus leaving the religious power as the only one that could assume the
economic and cost. finance the works of art (mostly religious themes), thus leaving great
works of art; mural paintings, sculptures, furniture and altarpieces with gilded and
polychrome wood carvings, etc.... A great example is the Renaissance era, 15th-16th
centuries.

Little by little the human figure dominated artistic expression, arriving in the Renaissance
(17th century). XV - XVII) to its maximum expression, together with the concept of
perspective. This resource allows the representation of space in an exact way.
The work of the artists was not limited only to the execution of their work of art, but also
to the creation of their paints, primers, supports and brushes. All this training was given
to 15th century apprentices by their teachers, who supervised each task.

Starting in the 17th century, the European aristocracy imposed the fashion of decorating
their houses (rooms, living rooms, furniture...) with exotic woods, tortoise shells, precious
stones, marbles, false reliefs, all of this was achieved with already painted imitations. that
its economic cost was more accessible, thus reaching its splendor in places such as the
Palace of Versailles.

In this way, the image of what we know today as a decorative painter was created,
creating different schools in Europe that developed this profession, the trompe l'oeil (eye
trap), a word of French origin, a pictorial resource consisting of achieving pictorial
effectiveness up to the extreme of simulating the real or corporeal appearance of things.

The rise of Decorative Painting, however, took place in Europe in the 18th and 19th
centuries, and through the colonizers, it was the most direct influence on decorative
painting in America. The Old World influenced the motifs, brush strokes and use of color.

Cave paintings Egyptian wall paintings

Romanesque painting Sant Climent de Taull Mural painting Greek art

 Medieval painting gothic art

Design Features

Ornamentation techniques have changed over time, but the desire to decorate everyday
objects persists to this day. It includes all types of designs (flowers, country scenes,
children's scenes, paintings with stencils, etc.) that are painted as decoration on useful
objects (shelves, shop windows, kitchen utensils, small furniture, etc.) as long as the motif
is painted about a useful object. Although today the purpose is often the other way
around, the artist prepares a circular saw blade, already worn out and discarded by the
carpenter, paints a design on it to his liking and puts a message on it such as "Perez Family
Welcome" . In this case the useful item, the saw blade, was turned into an ornament.
Examples of useful items with decorative paint are trays painted with designs of all kinds,
flowers, Christmas motifs, children's motifs and much more.

Significance

Most likely, according to popular opinion, decorative painting is not considered a valuable
form of artistic expression, since it reflects not only the artistic part but also the cultural
or historical aspects of each country, each region. It evokes an era, a historical moment in
the country.

Each country has a very marked style of decorative painting. And the simple fact of being
used for everyday objects is what probably, without taking away any type of aesthetic
merit or visual value, prevents this type of painting from obtaining greater artistic value
than it actually has.

Of course, although decorative painting has a lot to do with the style of each region or
country, it is true that there are globalized trends for it. That is why we can find in some
homes, a certain style of paint for furniture and walls that perhaps we can also find in
magazines around the world, without much effort.

Decorative painting as art

The development of decorative painting has increased the existence of materials made to
carry out this activity. And this of course has brought, along with the growing creativity
when it comes to decorating, the emergence of a very wide range of more popular and
globalized trends that are more married to popular fashions than to the cultural
expression of this or that region of a certain country.
It is valid, then, to consider decorative painting for what it is: a vehicle of artistic
expression, both individual and global, that also allows changing the appearance of
everyday life and allowing it to reflect some feeling or emotion different from those that
will be reflected in its nakedness. In this way, decorative painting is transformed into
something more than a simple

accessory to beautify the home. It ends up being a tool to transmit countless different
expressions in the same place.

We can then consider the design of our home decoration as a work of art, in which in a
certain period of time we have the opportunity to dress the walls and our furniture, as well
as every small detail, in different ways, so that we have the feeling of traveling to a
different place without leaving home.

This is how decorative painting can go from being something simple to being considered a
window to new visual experiences. Without being groundbreaking, simply using different
styles in our own home periodically can give the same place an air of being completely
different. And therein lies both its magic and its advantages when it comes to being
considered a fundamental tool in home interior design.

It currently reflects a need for expression on the part of the different decorative
painters and serves for many of them as a link to classical painting, which sometimes means
that the objective, techniques and application thereof are lost.

It is important that those of us who love this vehicle of artistic expression defend its
roots and foundations.