Catalan art has gone through a parallel evolution to that of the rest of Europe, following in a diverse way the multiple tendencies that emerged in the context of the history of Western art. Art has always been one of the main means of human expression, allowing humans to communicate ideas, feelings and their relation to the rest of the world. Its function can vary from the most practical to the most ornamental; It can have religious or simply aesthetic content, it can be lasting or ephemeral.
Throughout history, Catalonia has welcomed various cultures and civilizations, that contributed their concept of art and left their legacy. Each historical period has had specific and definable characteristics, that have been evolving over time, some common to other regions and cultures, while others were different and unique. This lead to the development of various artistic styles that may have a geographical or temporal origin, or just as well, be reduced to the work of one artist in particular always when clearly defined artistic forms are produced.
Catalan art is the result of the social and cultural amalgam brought about by the diverse peoples that inhabited the Catalan territory. The first prehistoric settlers were succeeded by Celts and Iberians that arrived during the Metal Ages (protohistory); these were later replaced with the first colonizers from Mediterranean civilizations, the Greeks; then the Romans arrived, who converted Catalonia into yet another province of their empire; after its fall, Catalonia was part of the Visigothic kingdom, and later suffered the Islamic invasion. The Middle Ages were the beginning of Catalan culture as a separate defined entity, with its own language, heiress of Latin, and the formation of the first Catalan state. It was a time of splendour for Catalan art, the Romanesque and Gothic periods were very fruitful for the artistic development of the Principality of Catalonia.
