Modern art began to develop at the end of the 19th century.
Modern art is a notion that refers to the artistic production created since the end of the 19th century . As with the idea of contemporary art , the expression can be linked to different historical times.
It should be noted that art , from the Latin ars , is a concept that refers to human creations that reflect the sensitive vision of the real or imaginary world. Literature , painting and theater are some of the disciplines of art, which in prehistory had a ritual function and which, over time, mutated towards aesthetics and leisure.
From the Latin modernus ( "recent" ), modern is something belonging to or relating to a recent era or to the time of the speaker. Typically, modern is considered in opposition to classic.
Exponents of modern art
There are many figures that we could highlight as representatives of modern art. However, among the most significant are the following:
- Pablo Picasso , the painter from Malaga, stood out for being one of the fathers of Cubism and has bequeathed such important works as "The Young Ladies of Avignon" , "El Guernica" or "The Dream" .
- Salvador Dali . This Catalan stood out both in the field of painting and sculpture and even in literature. Among his most famous works, the painting titled "The Persistence of Memory" should be highlighted.
- Claude Monet . This French painter is known as the creator of the movement called Impressionism, who created works of great significance and recognition such as "The Station of Saint-Lazare" , "The Water Lilies" and "The Parliament of London at Sunset" .
- Marcel Duchamp . This French artist, for his part, has gone down in history as the great inspiration of the pop movement. Without a doubt, his best-known work is the one entitled "The Source" .
- Paul Cezanne . Within post-impressionism we can say that this French painter is included, whose paintings such as "The Card Players" , "The Great Bathers" or "Still Life with Apples and Oranges" stand out.
Salvador Dalí is an exponent of modern art.
Main features
For some experts, modern art is the opposite of academic or traditional art . Modern art, in this sense, is related to the avant-garde and experimentation . Other specialists associate modern art with the Contemporary Age , so it would have begun in the mid-18th century .
At a general level it can be said that modern art is a way of considering the aesthetics and function of art, where the main value is not the literal and exact representation of nature . After the development of photography, which accurately reflects reality, modern artists proposed new points of view on nature.
Given the value of modern art, there are many museums and exhibition centers around the world that specialize in it. Specifically, among the most significant spaces of this type are the following: the MOMA in New York , the Tate Modern in London or the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Madrid .
The historical stage that follows modern art is postmodern art , which for many emerged in the 1970s in rejection of the idea of modernity.