The vitality of the Vikings was expressed in their art.At first the surfaces of objects were covered with patterns created from the bodies of stylised animals in a centuries-old tradition. Later new animal forms were created, such as gripping beasts and magnificent four legged creatures, absorbing motifs and artistic impulses from outside Scandinavia.

Almost all Viking Age art is applied art, (the decoration of a wide variety of objects used in daily life), however, woodcarvers, sculptors and metalworkers brought a dynamism and inventiveness to their task which has left a rich legacy of extravagant animal ornament.

Most of the finest surviving examples of art from the early Viking Age have been found in graves, especially on jewellery and weapons, while later Viking art is best represented on objects from silver hoards,found from the developing towns and on the Scandinavian runestones; there are also small-scale carvings in other materials such as amber, jet, bone, walrus ivory and, where it survives, wood.