neoBaroque

Neobaroque, literally “new Baroque,” is a term used to describe a revival or rearticulation of Baroque aesthetics in late 20th- and 21st-century art, architecture, and music. It is not a single, codified movement but a loose designation for works that echo Baroque drama, ornament, and sculptural form while engaging contemporary materials, technologies, and sensibilities.

In architecture and urban design, neobaroque denotes projects that employ exuberant ornament, dynamic massing, and theatrical contrast—curved facades, convex and concave surfaces, and dramatic lighting—often within postmodern or contemporary frameworks. The approach tends to emphasize spectacle, grand spatial narratives, and the evocation of movement, sometimes blending traditional Baroque vocabularies with digital fabrication or contemporary construction processes.

In the visual arts and design, neobaroque appears as layered, richly textured surfaces, elaborate motifs, trompe-l’oeil effects, and intricate ornamentation. Works seek to create a sense of drama, emotional intensity, and visual abundance, reinterpreting Baroque rhetoric through modern media, techniques, and cultural contexts.

In music, neobaroque describes composers and works that revive Baroque-era forms and techniques—counterpoint, fugue, ritornello, and ornamentation—while incorporating contemporary harmony, instrumentation, or electronic elements. The use of Baroque procedures is often blended with modern idioms, producing deliberate contrasts and a heightened sense of theatrical expression.

The term remains debated among scholars, used variably across regions and disciplines. It serves as a broad label for a set of tendencies that revive or reframe Baroque language rather than a single cohesive movement.