The name Romanesque refers to the fusion of Roman, Carolingian and Ottonian, Byzantine, and local Germanic traditions that make up the mature style. Although perhaps the most striking advances in Romanesque art were made in France, the style was current in all parts of Europe except those areas in eastern Europe that preserved a full-fledged Byzantine tradition. Its geographic distribution resulted in a wide variety of local types. (See Burgundian Romanesque style; Cistercian style; Norman style.)

Romanesque art resulted from the great expansion of monasticism in the 10th and 11th centuries, when Europe first regained a measure of political stability after the fall of the Roman Empire. Several large monastic orders, notably the Cistercian, Cluniac, and Carthusian, sprang up at this time and quickly expanded, establishing churches all over western Europe. Their churches had to be larger than previous ones in order to accommodate increased numbers of priests and monks and allow access to pilgrims who wished to view the saints' relics kept in the churches (church).

To fulfill these functions, Romanesque churches evolved the extensive use of a semicircular (“Roman”) arch for windows, doors, and arcades; a barrel vault (i.e., arches forming a half-cylindrical vault over a rectangular space) or groin vaults (formed by the intersection of two arches) to support the roof of the nave; and massive piers and walls (with few windows) to contain the extremely forceful outward thrust of the arched vaults. Two basic church plans evolved in France and became the types most often used; both expanded the early Christian basilica plan (longitudinal with side aisles and an apse) to accommodate the expanding functions of large churches. Each involved a system of radiating chapels (to accommodate more priests during mass), ambulatories (arcaded walkways for visiting pilgrims) around the sanctuary apse, and large transepts (transverse aisles separating the sanctuary from the main body of the church). The typical Romanesque church also had side aisles along the nave with galleries above them, a large tower over the crossing of the nave and transepts, and smaller towers at the church's western end. The barrel vaults of Romanesque churches were typically divided by shafts (engaged columns) and diaphragm arches into square bays, or compartments. This compartmentalization was an essential characteristic that distinguishes Romanesque architecture from its Carolingian and Ottonian predecessors.

Much of the monumental painting of the Romanesque period covered the interior walls of churches. The fragments that survive show that mural painting imitated sculptural style. Manuscript illumination (illuminated manuscript), in the elaboration of capital letters and marginal decoration, also followed the sculptural trend toward linear stylization. Both sculpture and painting incorporated a broad range of subject matter, reflecting the general revival of learning: contemporary theological works, biblical events, and the lives of saints were common subjects. Gothic art began to supplant Romanesque in the mid-12th century.