Perhaps I hold some bias towards understanding the importance of art in our world, being an art major and all. But in reality art completes the air and space around us. Conceptually understanding and prehistoric art gives us insight into how modern art is created. Prehistoric art paved the way of all art today and any historical art inspires today’s art.
Prehistoric art so far back as the first cave drawings showed us that animals like ourselves could understand and translate form. Art for them was less of a source of self expression and more of a way to convey ideas. Ancient hieroglyphs told stories from danger to ward off the unwanted, to stories of triumph. It is difficult to understand but all the art we know and love today like tv, video games and modern art would not exist today if prehistoric art didn’t exist. Thanks to prehistoric art we now understand different materials, media and techniques.
One of my preferred eras of classical art would be neoclassicalism. The style is described as harmonious with notes of classical antiquity. Neoclassical pulls parts from realism drawings as far as facial and body anatomy is concerned but often what is more played with is the background and often subjects of neoclassical are recognizable. Baroque art took the 1600s by storm when visual ornate components started becoming commonplace in oil painting. Each new era of art is heavily influenced by its former predecessor meaning all art today is inspired or possible given what prehistoric art discovered.
Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew, circa 1599-1600. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
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Further sources on the importance of art History:
https://www.eatmy.news/2021/07/importance-of-prehistoric-arts-in-human.html