The most visible, surviving monument to the Gothic art movement, its architecture, can still be seen throughout Western Europe in the form of cathedrals, castles and palaces. The style is known for its arch-centric design with heavy use of flying buttresses to support the immense weight of structures such as cathedral towers and palisades. According to William Hinkle, professor emeritus of art history at Columbia University, these structural supports allowed builders to construct thinner walls and add windows, unlike their much thicker Romanesque predecessors.
Clothing styles of the Early Gothic period featured low necklines, shorter tunics and tighter sleeves, though long, flowing clothing was also somewhat common, especially on women, according to Scott Robinson, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at Central Washington University. By the Late Gothic period, however, flowing garments had gone out of style and were replaced by tighter, stiffer cuts of fabric. Common embellishments included multicolored garments, the incorporation of heraldry into outfits and tabards worn over armor. When thinking about Gothic-era fashion, think about the costumes used in Shakespeare's Henry plays.
Painters in the Gothic era began to incorporate more realism and spatial dimension into their art, according to Hinkle; this marked a clear step toward the more well-known period of Renaissance painting. Hieronymus Bosch and Jan van Eyck are two of the most famous painters of this era.
Just as Gothic painters introduced more realism into their art, so too did sculptors of the period. Though largely focused on religious iconography, the robe-bedecked creations of artists such as legendary Dutch sculptor Claus Sluter effected natural appearances without losing the grandness of their divine subject matter.