Throughout history, art has always evolved alongside technology. From cave paintings to Renaissance panels, and from photographic experiments to multimedia installations, each innovation has offered artists new tools for expressing the world. But today, in the digital era, we face a radical shift: when an artwork is no longer created by a hand, but by an algorithm, can we still speak of painting?
With the rise of artificial intelligence and generative technologies, the line between artist and machine is becoming increasingly blurred. This article explores the evolution of painting techniques up to digital art and AI, and reflects on a timely question: is the new brush an algorithm?
From Pigment to Pixel: A Brief History of Painting Techniques
Painting is as old as humanity itself. The first visual expressions appeared on cave walls, with natural pigments applied directly to stone surfaces. Over time, humans developed more sophisticated tools and supports—wood panels, canvas, paper.
The history of painting is marked by major technical revolutions: tempera in the Middle Ages, oil paint in the Renaissance, acrylics in the 20th century. Each innovation brought new expressive possibilities.
In the 19th century, the advent of photography challenged traditional concepts of “representation,” pushing painting to redefine its role. But it was with computing—and later, digital technology—that a new chapter began: the painting surface moved to the screen, and the brush could become... a mouse.
Digital Art: New Tools, New Languages
Digital art refers to a broad range of artistic practices that use digital tools to create, manipulate, or present artworks. From digital illustration to generative graphics, from 3D modeling to interactive installations, the field is vast and ever-evolving.
The first experiments date back to the 1960s and ’70s, with the birth of computer art. In the 1990s, with the spread of the internet, net art emerged. Today, thanks to software like Photoshop, Procreate, Blender, and graphic tablets, artists can create directly on screen with great precision.
The painting surface is now dematerialized, multiplied, and virtual. The rise of NFTs and immersive installations(such as those by teamLab or Refik Anadol) has made digital art one of the central expressions of our time.
The Algorithm as Artist: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
In recent years, artificial intelligence has revolutionized the art world. Thanks to technologies like machine learning and generative adversarial networks (GANs), it’s now possible to create images, videos, and interactive works that appear to be made by human hands—but aren’t.
Platforms like DALL·E, Midjourney, DeepDream, and Runway ML allow users to generate images from simple text descriptions (prompts). The artist thus becomes a curator of the process, rather than its direct executor. The algorithm acts as a "creative assistant," capable of learning styles, interpreting instructions, and producing visual variations.
Perhaps the most famous example is Portrait of Edmond de Belamy, an AI-generated work sold at Christie’s in 2018 for over $400,000. The algorithm as artist is now a reality.
Critical and Aesthetic Questions
AI-generated art raises many questions. Who is the author of the artwork? The programmer, the software, or the person who wrote the prompt? Is the work truly original, or simply an automated remix of pre-existing images?
Some critics see AI art as a threat to the uniqueness of artworks and the role of the artist. Others see it as the next step in the evolution of creativity: the artist becomes an orchestrator of complex systems, engaged in a dialogue with artificial intelligence.
Emotional expression is another open question: Can an algorithm “feel”? Can it convey intuition, fragility, or expressive tension? Or is it merely a perfect—but empty—simulation?
The Future of Painting: Dialogue or Conflict Between Human and Machine?
Will AI replace artists? Probably not. But it will accompany them, challenge them, and change them. Many contemporary artists are already collaborating with algorithms, creating hybrid works that combine intuition and calculation, vision and coding.
Painting is not disappearing—it is transforming. It can coexist with the digital, draw inspiration from it, or even resist it. In any case, the painterly gesture survives, even when the brush is made of data.
Digital art and artificial intelligence do not mark the end of painting, but its rebirth in new and hybrid forms. The algorithm can become a brush—but it still needs a human mind to give it vision, meaning, and intention.
The future of art will not be a machine creating alone, but a creative dialogue between human and technology. In the end, as always, it is not the tool that makes the artist, but the way one looks at the world—whether through pigment, pixels, or code.
Selena Mattei