The term “Modern Art” remains an elastic term that can accommodate a variety of meanings. Since we’re constantly moving forward in time, what is considered “modern painting or sculpture” today, it may not be seen as modern in fifty years’ time. It is something of the time for sure, even though the expression Modern Art dates back during the approximate period 1870-1970.
The “Modern era” followed by a long period of domination by the Renaissance, represents an evolving set of ideas among a number of painters, sculptors, photographers, performers, and writers who both individually and collectively sought new approaches to art-making. Even though it started back in the XIX century, practitioners of each new style were determined to develop a visual language that was both original and representative of the times.
Modern art movements included Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Pop Art
The modern era arrived with the dawn of the industrial revolution in Western Europe in the mid-19th century, one of the most crucial turning points in world history. Followed with the invention of technology, the pace, and quality of everyday life changes drastically. A lot of people migrated from the rural farms to city centers to find work, shifting the center of life from the family and village in the country to the expanding urban metropolises.
With these developments, painters were drawn to these new visual landscapes, now bustling with a variety of modern spectacles and fashions. The artist’s intention to portray a subject as it exists according to his or her perspective, characterized and shaped modern art, where the main idea was to showcase artists’ interest in re-imagining, reinterpreting, and even rejecting traditional aesthetic values of preceding styles.
