ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

International Gothic

International Gothic is basically a fancy word for a fancy way of making art that was popular a long time ago. It started in Europe during the late 1300s and continued into the early 1400s. People made all kinds of things in the style of International Gothic, but we usually talk about it when we are talking about painting.

When people painted in the International Gothic style, they made their paintings look very pretty and detailed. They liked to paint pictures of people and they made them look very delicate and elegant. The people in the paintings usually had very pointed noses and long, skinny fingers. They wore fancy clothes and had flowing hair. The artists were really good at making textures look real, so the clothes in the paintings looked like they would feel really soft and silky, and the hair looked like it would be super bouncy.

International Gothic painters also loved to use bright colors, especially gold. They would paint golden halos around the heads of holy people to make them look special. The backgrounds of the paintings were often filled with beautiful patterns that made the paintings look even fancier.

People made International Gothic art all over Europe, which is why it's "international". Just like how we have different styles of music or movies today, there were different styles of International Gothic art in different countries. But they all had the same general idea: make everything look super pretty and fancy.