As we have arrived in "post-modernism," things are going to be changed. it is imagined realism of times gone by which have a broad range of themes that are predominantly chosen by a given artist. Similarly to the religious art of the renaissance, which were all imaginary. Things that were not photographed, drawn or painted at the time their paintings depicts. There is of-course a personal choice of subjects any particular 'post modernist' artists is attracted to. Some like to depict e.g. the struggles of the past, or the depressions nations found themselves in during the industrial revolution. Others want to paint some people wallowing in their new found wealth. I like the time which is called "the romantic period," post Napoleonic but before the start of the Industrial revolution. A time of relative peace and tranquility. Where most of the people lived off the land, no artificial fertilizers, and no mechanized farming equipment. The horse was celebrated, but when mechanization started, they were send, wholesale, to the knackery. Shame on mankind who so quickly want to rid this planet from animals that have served them for centuries for their own selfish reasons. (Well, that's my opinion.)