Timeline
A non-linear scale fits 67,000 years on a single screen — without collapsing millennia into a point. Zoom in, pan across, and follow the bands of eras and the ribbons of movements and artists.
An interactive observatory of art history
The art of the world on a single timeline.
ChronoLens Art arranges works from Palaeolithic paintings made over 64,000 years ago to contemporary art — on a non-linear timeline that takes dating uncertainty seriously. Filter, compare, explore the map and follow curated stories.
Timeline — an overview 64,800 years ago → 2026
Prehistory
Contemporary
Maltravieso
Lascaux
Nefertiti
Mona Lisa
The Starry Night
Sunflower Seeds
67,000
years of art history
34
curated works
5
continents on the map
6
eras from the Palaeolithic to today
Four ways of looking
The same works, seen from four perspectives.
Map
Every work has a place of origin. Watch the centres of art shift across the world — five regions, each with a colour of its own.
Compare
Set works side by side in groups — by region, medium or era — and read the proportions of the collection at a glance.
Europe
Asia
Oceania
Stories
Curated paths lead you through selected works in a deliberate order — with commentary at every stop. Reveal the entire route on the timeline with a single click.
The heart of the project
Dating uncertainty is part of the data.
Most objects from before the common era carry no single date. ChronoLens Art doesn't pretend otherwise — it distinguishes exact and approximate dates, ranges and minimum dates, and shows the confidence of the sources beside every work.
Hand stencil, Maltravieso Cave
at least 64,800 years ago
Chauvet Cave paintings
c. 36,000–28,000 years ago
Sunflower Seeds — Ai Weiwei
2010
A curated collection
Filter along nine dimensions.
Every work carries a rich record: region and place of origin, era, movement, medium, material, institution, licence and dating source. Combine filters to carve out precisely the slice of history that interests you.
Europe Asia Africa Americas Oceania Prehistory Antiquity Rock art Sculpture Painting Installation Renaissance Ivory + more
Curated paths
Three stories through the history of art.
10 stops
From the oldest art to today
Ten stops spanning 67 millennia — from pigment on a cave wall to porcelain on a gallery floor.
5 stops
The birth of figuration
How the image of the world appeared in art — from the first animals to narrative scenes.
6 stops
Modernism, globally
Modernity was not only European — a look across more than one continent.