About Conceptual Art
'No matter what form [the artwork] may finally have, it must begin with an idea.' – Sol LeWitt
With Conceptual Art, the idea is the most important thing about the artwork. The materials and techniques that the artist has used are less important or not important at all. The artwork is simply a vehicle for encouraging the viewer to think about an idea – or to think in a different way more generally about art and the wider world.
When did it start?
Conceptual Art as a movement emerged in the late 1950s and flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. But its roots can be seen in the early twentieth century when the French artist Marcel Duchamp presented ordinary objects as artworks. One of Duchamp's most famous artworks is Fountain – an ordinary ceramic urinal that he presented upside down in an exhibition as a sculpture.
Is it still around today?
Although Conceptual Art is associated with the 1960s and 1970s, it influenced many artists over the following decades and can still be seen as important in contemporary art. For example, many of the YBA (Young British Artists) including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas are influenced by Conceptual Art in using found objects to put across an idea.
What does it look like?
Because the art object or artist's technique isn't important, Conceptual Art can look like pretty much anything. It could be an object manufactured for a different purpose, a text, a performance, action or event – or a photograph documenting a performance, action or event.

© the artist. Image credit: University of Dundee Fine Art Collections
Alastair Mackay MacLennan (b.1943)
University of Dundee Fine Art CollectionsMany artworks created from or in the landscape (Land Art) can also be considered Conceptual Art. Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long make physical interventions in the landscape using natural materials. For his artwork, A Sound-Enclosed Land Area 1969, artist Dennis Oppenheim recorded the footsteps he made while walking in a specific area as designated by a map, for a set period of time. Viewers experience the artwork through its documentation – a map showing the area he walked and a recording of his footsteps.

© Dennis Oppenheim Estate and Studio/Archive . Image credit: Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London
A Sound-Enclosed Land Area 1969
Dennis Oppenheim (1938–2011)
Arts Council Collection, Southbank CentreExplore key Conceptual artists on Art UK
Joseph Beuys
Marcel Broodthaers
Sophie Calle
Martin Creed
Damien Hirst
Jenny Holzer
Mary Kelly
Sol LeWitt
Lawrence Weiner