Vincent van gogh used thick swirls of paint in his work starry night. this technique is called

Van Gogh used a technique called Impasto in his work. Impasto is the spreading of thick paint across the canvas to give texture and make the paint brush strokes visible.

Photography has changed its subject matter quite a lot over the past few years. in the 1800's, it was considered normal for families to have  post mortem photos of their loved ones, and now that would be completely unacceptable. i think that photographers have always pushed boundaries and have been eager to capture everything, it is just society that changes their boundaries.