1. A genre system divides artworks according to depicted themes and objects. It ranked genres in high – history painting and portrait, - and low – genre painting, landscape and still life.

The arts have also been classified as seven: painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, performing and cinema. Throughout history, the main genres of art have been constantly rearranged overtime in terms of valor, importance to the time period and the dominant members of power. This hierarchy was based on the notion of man as the measure of all things. Genres are types of painting. A major genre of art is visual art. Industrial design, graphic design, interior decorating and fashion design, which are called the applied arts, also fall into this category. Painting Genres. These were codified in the seventeenth century as (in descending order of importance) history, portrait, genre (scenes of everyday life), landscape and still life

This category includes ceramics, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, video production, crafts and photography. I will elaborate on those ideas but first, here are the four main categories of paintings plus one that isn't as easily grasped, yet necessary. A classical hierarchy of genres was developed in European culture by the 17th century. Painting Genres or Categories: History, Portraits, Genre-scenes, Landscapes, Still Life.

Some view literature, painting, sculpture, and music as the main four arts, of which the others are derivative; drama is literature with acting , dance is music expressed through motion , and song is music with literature and voice .