Art and Technology

History and Technology

Today when we consider technology and art together many of us will think about AI and its impacts on creative industries. However, changes in technology have always influenced artists long before the invention of computers, AI and the internet. During the nineteenth century France was experiencing great change which included a confidence in design, industry and science.

The invention of synthetic pigments meant that a wide range of colours became available to artists – new fabric dyes transformed women’s clothing, gardens were being populated with new species of plants imported from Central America and firework displays illuminated the night sky. Artists were seeing colour everywhere, however, had it not been for the collapsible paint tube in 1842, that allowed artists to paint en plein air, one could argue Impressionism may never have happened.

Browse our resources featuring artists who have been influenced by technology.