The avant-garde style of modern art is well-known, and forward-thinking artists are lauded. It encompasses several significant art trends and has naturally seen a diverse spectrum of styles develop over the period of about 100 years.
To follow contemporary art’s extraordinary growth, one must first recognize and comprehend the various genres that make it up. It is, nevertheless, helpful to come up with a modern art term in order to do so. Before you invest your money in purchasing modern art prints, you need to have a thorough understanding on what they are all about. Along with that understanding, you can proceed with getting hold of the best modern art prints that you can possibly buy.
What is the definition of modern art?
The term “modern art” does not mean “current art,” but rather “late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century art.” Artists’ interest in re-imagining, reinterpreting, and even rejecting established aesthetic standards of previous styles may be seen in works created during this time.
Major Artists and Movements in History
The contemporary art genre is made up of numerous significant movements, starting with light and airy Impressionism and finishing with powerful Abstract Expressionism.
The Industrial Revolution is credited with the origin of modernism and modern art. This period of rapid developments in industry, transportation, and technology began around the mid-eighteenth century and continued until the nineteenth, significantly changing the social, economic, and cultural circumstances of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the rest of the globe.
The railroad, the steam engine, and the subway all transformed the way people lived, worked, and traveled, broadening their perspective, and allowing them access to new ideas. Workers flocked to cities for industrial occupations as urban centers flourished, and urban populations grew.
Artists were frequently commissioned to create artwork by affluent patrons or institutions such as the church prior to the nineteenth century. Much of ancient art portrayed religious or mythical themes that presented stories to educate the audience.
Many artists began to create art based on their own personal experiences and on subjects that they picked during the nineteenth century. Many artists began investigating dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as possibilities for depicting their subjective experiences with the publication of neurologist Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) and the popularization of the notion of a subconscious mind. Some painters experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums, challenging the concept that art must faithfully portray the reality.
Photography, which was invented in 1839 and provided radical new possibilities for capturing and understanding the world, was one of these new mediums.
Different styles of modern art prints
When it comes to modern art prints, you will come across many different style variations. Here’s an overview of the different style variations that you can discover out there. You may go through these variations and proceed with investing on modern art prints.
Impressionism
Impressionism, often regarded as the birthplace of contemporary art, defied academic painting’s rigorous norms and realistic portrayals. When Claude Monet painted Impression, Sunrise in 1872, he pioneered the use of blurred brushstrokes, a concentration on light, and a vibrant color palette.
Until the turn of the century, this style dominated French painting, with painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas at the forefront.
Post-Impressionism
Artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec began painting in distinctive, unorthodox styles as a result of the Impressionists’ artistic independence. This colorful trend, known as post-Impressionism, began in the 1890s and emphasizes a concern in emotion as well as a preference for subjective interpretation over accurate portrayal.
Fauvism
Fauvism was founded in the early twentieth century by les Fauves, an avant-garde group of painters that included André Derain and Henri Matisse. Fauvists, like the Post-Impressionists, preferred unrealistic tones and a focus on individual perceptions in their portrayals, which often contained identifiable (although abstracted) shapes.
Expressionism
Painters in Germany and Austria began experimenting with their techniques just before World War I. These painters were recognized as Expressionists after adopting and adapting the unique traits of other modern movements. Expressionist art, like Post-Impressionist and Fauvist works, is characterized by a preoccupation with brilliant, unnatural color and personal iconography.
Cubism
Cubism signified the transition from realism to abstraction in contemporary art, characterized by deconstructed, fragmented shapes. The avant-garde movement, founded in 1907 by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, manifested itself in topsy-turvy paintings, multi-dimensional sculptures, and cutting-edge collages. Cubism, like other modern art styles, emphasizes the subjective nature of creation. “We didn’t have the goal of discovering Cubism when we discovered Cubism,” Picasso adds. We just wanted to say what was on our minds.”
Surrealism
Surrealism, a movement rooted in the subconscious, was founded in the 1920s by visual artists Salvador Dal, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy. The genre resulted in a varied array of dream-like representations fresh from the artists’ minds, lacking “any control performed by reason, free from any aesthetic or moral concern” (André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism).
Abstract Expressionism
An avant-garde group of painters abandoned figurative painting in favor of an original, abstract aesthetic in the mid-twentieth century. These artists, known as Abstract Expressionists, focused their paintings not only on modernist elements like color, composition, and emotion, but also on the creative process itself.
Contemporary Art vs. Modern Art
Modern and contemporary art are sometimes confused for one another due to their experimental character and related topics. The unclear, fuzzy boundary that separates them becomes apparent once the movements that make them up are recognized.
Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, and the forms in between are commonly considered to be part of contemporary art. As a result, contemporary art begins with Pop Art, the first significant trend after modernism, and continues to this day. While keeping these facts in mind, you may buy the best modern art prints that you can possibly purchase.