In the Iberian Peninsula we find different artistic manifestations made by human beings, ranging from the Upper Palaeolithic to Romanisation (30,000-133 BC). The artistic manifestations that took place up to the Copper Age are known as Prehistoric Art.

The cave paintings, kept in caves and caverns, were made with natural pigments and depict animals such as bison, deer, fallow deer, goats, bulls, mammoths, as well as impressions of feet and hands. These paintings underwent a gradual evolution and among their manifestations, which are characterised by their naturalism and polychromy, we highlight as the most important those created in the Magdalenian period, with Spain and France being the countries that possess the most impressive sets from this period (Altamira, Lascaux…).

Bone and ivory objects are abundant in the Aurignacian period, with characteristic objects such as needles, harpoons, hooks and knives. Stone sculptures and reliefs are also found, such as the steatopygic Venuses, associated with fertility rites, with the Venus of Willendorff, found in Austria near Willendorf on the banks of the Danube, being of particular interest. It is now kept in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria.

As for cave paintings from 12,000 BC onwards, we find stylised monochromatic silhouettes depicted in scenes of hunting, dancing, gathering, battles, etc., in which the human figure is the protagonist.