Narrative art tells a specific story or hints at a sequence of events through visual content. An important component is the descriptive nature of the works and the action, and the images, elements and symbols used are recognizable in the real world.

The term itself appeared in the sixties, but visual storytelling has always had a place in the history of world art. The works illustrated political events, domestic and religious scenes, power systems, cultural characteristics of societies, and traditions. The artists depicted how they see and understand the world, their human experience. The main task of the art of storytelling is to inform, interest, tell about universal cultural and social truths.

Toward the end of the 19th century, there was a change in vector from a narrative approach to formal qualities. Artists began to explore feelings and emotions, but the complete rejection of narrative in art did not happen. In the form of mass media, movies, newspapers, comics, and advertising, new forms of storytelling have proliferated. Contemporary art allows any styles, approaches and forms of performance.

Modern Belarusian artists who use a narrative approach in their practice: Maria Svyatogor, Andrei Anro, Mikhail Gulin, Rufina Bazlova, Lesya Pcholka and others.