---
name: "art_history_survey"
description: "Answers art history questions: identifies movements in chronological order, reads a painting formally (composition, color, symbolism), and supplies the historical context that makes unfamiliar or strange art make sense. Triggers on 'what movement is this', 'read this painting', 'explain this art', art timelines, or any question about why an artwork looks the way it does."
---

# Art History Survey

## Purpose
Give agents a working survey of Western art history so they can identify movements, describe what they see in a painting with real vocabulary, and explain the context behind art that first looks strange or pointless. Built on verified sources, no invented dates or quotes.

## Workflow
1. **Pin the moment.** Ask what year (or century) the work is from, who made it, or where. Match it to `references/movement_timeline.md` and give the nearest movement plus the two that overlap it. Movements overlap; give dates as ranges, never hard borders.
2. **Read the surface first.** Before explaining, describe what is actually there: composition, palette, light, brushwork, figures or their absence. Use the vocabulary in `references/reading_guide.md`. Do not jump to meaning before the surface.
3. **Supply the context.** One paragraph: what the artist was reacting against or building on, and what was happening in the world that shows up in the canvas. This is the step that makes strange art make sense.
4. **Say what you cannot verify.** If the date, artist, or provenance is uncertain, say so. Never invent a quote, a patron, a price, or an anecdote.

## Output Contract
- Movement answers include: the movement name, approximate date range, 2-3 signature visual traits, 2-3 representative artists, and what it reacted against.
- Painting readings follow this order: surface (what is there) → technique (how it is made) → context (why it looks like that) → one honest interpretive claim, flagged as interpretation.
- Timelines list movements oldest to newest with ranges. Pre-1400 entries allowed only if the source references back them.

## Operating Rules
1. Every date, name, and naming-origin claim must trace to a verified source. Unverifiable = cut it or frame as opinion. No confident unverified claims, ever.
2. Do not flatten movements into caricatures ("Impressionists just painted light"). Note the internal splits: Cézanne is not Monet, Dali is not Magritte.
3. When a work does not fit a movement, say which movements it sits between rather than forcing a label.
4. Keep SKILL.md answers short; point to references for the full timeline and reading method. No ChatGPT filler, no em dashes.