Academic art is a style of painting produced under the influence of European academies or universities popular from the 17th to the 19th century. Specifically, it is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des beaux-arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Thos who practiced under the movement were usually referred to as academic artists, in an attempt to synthesize their styles and separate them from lesser trained artists.

Since Academic art is particularly associated with the French Academy, it had a great influence on the Paris Salons during the 19th century. It also extended to all art influenced by the European Academies, often meant to refer to artists studied and influenced by the standards of the Académie des beaux-arts.

The Académie des beaux-arts, was founded in an effort to distinguish artists practicing a liberal art as apposed to those engaged in manual labor. The emphasis on the intellectual component of art making had a considerable impact on the subjects and styles of academic art.

Academic Art was in fashion in Europe from the 17th to the 19th century. Those who practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism, were usually referred as academic artists, in the attempt to synthesize their styles.

Often times, academic art was also known as called "academism", "academicism", "L'art pompier", "eclecticism", and sometimes linked with "historicism" and "syncretism".