INTRODUCTION

In all of human history, art has mirrored life in the community, society, and the world in all its colors, lines, shapes, and forms. The same has been true in the last two centuries, with world events and global trends being reflected in the art movements.
The decades from 1900 to the present have seen the human race living in an ever shrinking planet. The 20th century saw a boom in the interchange of ideas, beliefs, values, and lifestyles that continues to bring the citizens of the world closer together.

Technological breakthroughs

From the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s, the world zoomed into the Electronic. Age in the mid-1900s, then into the present Cyberspace Age. In just over 100 years, humans went from hand-cranked telephones to hands-free mobile phones, from the first automobiles to inter-planetary space vehicles, from local radio broadcasting to international news coverage via satellite, from vaccinations against polio and smallpox to laser surgery.

Social, political, and environmental changes

There has been migration across the globe, allowing different cultures, languages, skills, and even physical characteristics of different races to intermingle like never before. The 20th century also suffered through two World Wars, and several regional wars in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. There was the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Asian economic crisis of the 1990s. Considered the modern-day plague, AIDS has afflicted millions the world over, while millions more continue to live in hunger, disease, and poverty. Environmental destruction has also become a major concern.

Effects on the world of art

The art movements of the late 19th century to the 20th century captured and expressed all these and more. Specifically, these were the movements known as impressionism and expressionism. While earlier periods of art had a quite set conventions as to the style, technique, and treatment of their subjects, impressionists and expressionists conveyed their ideas and feelings in bold, innovative ways. These were the exciting precursors of the modern art of the 21st century.

Impressionism: Origins of the Movement

Impressionism was an art movement that emerged in the second half of the 19th century among a group of Paris-based artists. The duration of the impressionist movement itself was quite short, less than 20 years from 1872 to the mid-1880s. But it had a tremendous impact and influence on the painting styles that followed, such as neo-impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, and cubism—and even the artistic styles and movements of today.

The name impressionism was coined from the title of a work by French painter Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant (in English, Impression, Sunrise).

The term precisely captured what this group of artists sought to represent in their works: the viewer’s momentary “impression” of an image. It was not intended to be clear or precise, but more like a fleeting fragment of reality caught on canvas, sometimes in mid-motion, at other times awkwardly positioned—just as it would be in real life.

The Influence of Delacroix

As with all emerging art movements, impressionism owed its inspiration to earlier masters. One major influence was the work of French painter Eugène Delacroix. Delacroix was greatly admired and emulated by the early impressionists—specifically for his use of expressive brushstrokes, his emphasis on movement rather than on clarity of form, and most of all his study of the optical effects of color.

In particular, Delacroix’s painting, The Barque of Dante, contained a then revolutionary technique that would profoundly influence the coming impressionist movement. And it involved something as simple as droplets of water.
The painting is loosely based on a fictional scene from Dante’s Inferno, showing Dante and the poet Virgil crossing hell’s River Styx, while tormented souls struggle to climb aboard their boat. It is the drops of water running down the bodies of these doomed souls (see enlarged detail below) that are painted in a manner almost never used in Delacroix’s time.

When studied closely, it is seen that four different, unmixed pigments—yellow, green, red, and white—create the image of each drop and its shadow. Viewed from a little distance, these colors blend to represent individual drops glistening with light. The distinct colors merge in the eye of the viewer to appear monochromatic (single-colored) or, in this case of water droplets, colorless. In short, an impression is formed.

Putting this and similar principles into wider practice, future painters would carry French art into one of its richest periods: impressionism.

Impressionism:
A Break from Past Painting Traditions

There were several areas in which impressionist artists moved away from the established practices of art at that time. These involved their use of color, choice of subject matter and setting, and technique for capturing light and conveying movement. Color and Light

The painting conventions and techniques of earlier art periods were very much concerned with line, form, and composition. In contrast, the impressionists painted with freely brushed colors that conveyed more of a visual effect than a detailed rendering of the subject. They used short “broken” strokes that were intentionally made visible to the viewer. They also often placed pure unmixed colors side by side, rather than blended smoothly or shaded. The result was a feeling of energy and intensity, as the colors appeared to shift and move—again, just as they do in reality.

“Everyday” Subjects

EDOUARD MANET

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) was one of the first 19th century artists to depict modern-life subjects. He was a key figure in the transition from realism to impressionism, with a number of his works considered as marking the birth of modern art.

EDOUARD MANET

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) was one of the first 19th century artists to depict modern-life subjects. He was a key figure in the transition from realism to impressionism, with a number of his works considered as marking the birth of modern art.
Impressionists also began to break away from the creation of formally posed portraits and grandiose depictions of mythical, literary, historical, or religious subjects. They ventured into capturing scenes of life around them, household objects, landscapes and seascapes, houses, cafes, and buildings. They presented ordinary people seemingly caught off-guard doing everyday tasks, at work or at leisure, or doing nothing at all. And they were not made to look beautiful or lifelike, as body parts could be distorted and facial features merely suggested by a few strokes of the brush.

Painting Outdoors

CLAUDE MONET

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was one of the founders of the impressionist movement along with his friends Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille. He was the most prominent of the group; and is considered the most influential figure in the movement. Monet is best known for his landscape paintings, particularly those depicting his beloved flower gardens and water lily ponds at his home in Giverny.
CLAUDE MONET

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was one of the founders of the impressionist movement along with his friends Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille. He was the most prominent of the group; and is considered the most influential figure in the movement. Monet is best known for his landscape paintings, particularly those depicting his beloved flower gardens and water lily ponds at his home in Giverny.
The location in which the impressionists painted was also different. Previously, still lifes, portraits, and landscapes were usually painted inside a studio. However, the impressionists found that they could best capture the ever-changing effects of light on color by painting outdoors in natural light. This gave their works a freshness and immediacy that was quite a change from the stiffer, heavier, more planned paintings of earlier masters.

Open Composition

Impressionist painting also moved away from the formal, structured approach to placing and positioning their subjects. They experimented with unusual visual angles, sizes of objects that appeared out of proportion, off-center placement, and empty spaces on the canvas.

AUGUSTE RENOIR

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), along with Claude Monet, was one of the central figures of the impressionist movement. His early works were snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, Renoir broke away from the impressionist movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits of actual people and figure paintings.

AUGUSTE RENOIR

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), along with Claude Monet, was one of the central figures of the impressionist movement. His early works were snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, Renoir broke away from the impressionist movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits of actual people and figure paintings.

The Influence of Photography

Photography was in its early stages at this time as well. As it gained popularity, photography inspired impressionists to capture fleeting moments of action, whether in landscapes or in the day-to-day lives of people. But whereas camera snapshots provided objective, true-to-life images, the artists were able to offer a subjective view of their subjects, expressing their personal perceptions rather than creating exact representations. They also had the advantage of manipulating color, which photography at that time still lacked.

Impressionism:
Works of Manet, Monet, and Renoir

By the 1870s, the stage was set for the emergence of the next major art movement in Europe, impressionism. It started with a group of French painters—that included Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir—and eventually spread to other countries, such as Italy, Germany, and The Netherlands.

Post-Impressionism:
Works of Cezanne and Van Gogh

After the brief yet highly influential period of impressionism, an outgrowth movement known as post-impressionism emerged. The European artists who were at the forefront of this movement continued using the basic qualities of the impressionists before them—the vivid colors, heavy brush strokes, and true-to-life subjects. However, they expanded and experimented with these in bold new ways, like using a geometric approach, fragmenting objects and distorting people’s faces and body parts, and applying colors that were not necessarily realistic or natural.

Two of the foremost post-impressionists were Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was a post-impressionist painter from The Netherlands. His works were remarkable for their strong, heavy brush strokes, intense emotions, and colors that appeared to almost pulsate with energy. Van Gogh’s striking style was to have a far-reaching influence on 20th century art, with his works becoming among the most recognized in the world.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was a post-impressionist painter from The Netherlands. His works were remarkable for their strong, heavy brush strokes, intense emotions, and colors that appeared to almost pulsate with energy. Van Gogh’s striking style was to have a far-reaching influence on 20th century art, with his works becoming among the most recognized in the world.

PAUL CEZANNE

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was a French artist and post-impressionist painter. His work exemplified the transition from late 19th-century impressionism to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century—paving the way for the next revolutionary art movement known as expressionism.
PAUL CEZANNE

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was a French artist and post-impressionist painter. His work exemplified the transition from late 19th-century impressionism to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century—paving the way for the next revolutionary art movement known as expressionism.
Expressionism: A Bold New Movement

In the early 1900s, there arose in the Western art world a movement that came to be known as expressionism. Expressionist artists created works with more emotional force, rather than with realistic or natural images. To achieve this, they distorted outlines ,applied strong colors, and exaggerated forms. They worked more with their imagination and feelings, rather than with what their eyes saw in the physical world.

Among the various styles that arose within the expressionist art movements were:
 neoprimitivism
 fauvism
 dadaism
 surrealism
 social realism

Neoprimitivism

Neoprimitivism was an art style that incorporated elements from the native arts of the South Sea Islanders and the wood carvings of African tribes which suddenly became popular at that time. Among the Western artists who adapted these elements was Amedeo Modigliani, who used the oval faces and elongated shapes of African art in both his sculptures and paintings.

Fauvism

Fauvism was a style that used bold, vibrant colors and visual distortions. Its name was derived from les fauves (“wild beasts”), referring to the group of French expressionist painters who painted in this style. Perhaps the most known among them was Henri Matisse.

Dadaism

Dadaism was a style characterized by dream fantasies, memory images, and visual tricks and surprises—as in the paintings of Marc Chagall and Giorgio de Chirico below. Although the works appeared playful, the movement arose from the pain that a group of European artists felt after the suffering brought by World War I. Wishing to protest against the civilization that had brought on such horrors, these artists rebelled against established norms and authorities, and against the traditional styles in art. They chose the child’s term for hobbyhorse, dada, to refer to their new “non-style.”

Surrealism

Surrealism was a style that depicted an illogical, subconscious dream world beyond the logical, conscious, physical one. Its name came from the term “super realism,”with its artworks clearly expressing a departure from reality—as though the artists were dreaming, seeing illusions, or experiencing an altered mental state.

Social Realism
The movement known as social realism expressed the artist’s role in social reform. Here, artists used their works to protest against the injustices, inequalities, immorality, and ugliness of the human condition.
In different periods of history, social realists have addressed different issues: war, poverty, corruption, industrial and environmental hazards, and more—in the hope of raising people’s awareness and pushing society to seek reforms.

Ben Shahn’s Miners’ Wives, for example, spoke out against the hazardous conditions faced by coal miners, after a tragic accident killed 111 workers in Illinois in 1947, leaving their wives and children in mourning.

Pablo Picasso’s Guernica has been recognized as the most monumental and comprehensive statement of social realismagainst the brutality of war. Filling onewall of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, it was Picasso’s outcry against the German air raid of the town of Guernica in his native Spain.

Created in the mid-1900s, Guernica combined artistic elements developed in the earlier decades with those still to come. It made use of the exaggeration, distortion, and shock technique of expressionism. At the same time, it had elements of the emerging style that would later be known as cubism.

Abstractionism

Another group of artistic styles emerged at the same time as the expressionist movement. It had the same spirit of freedom of expression and openness that characterized life in the 20th century, but it differed from expressionism in certain ways. This group of styles was known as abstractionism.

The abstractionist movement arose from the intellectual points of view in the 20th century. In the world of science, physicists were formulating a new view of the universe, which resulted in the concepts of space-time and relativity. This intellectualism was reflected even in art. While expressionism was emotional, abstractionism was logical and rational. It involved analyzing, detaching, selecting, and simplifying.

In previous centuries, works of art were a reflection, in one way or another, of the outside world. In 20th century abstractionism, natural appearances became unimportant. Artists reduced a scene into geometrical shapes, patterns, lines, angles, textures and swirls of color. The resulting works ranged from representational abstractionism, depicting still recognizable subjects (as in the artwork on the left), to pure abstractionism, where no recognizable subject could be discerned.

Grouped under abstractionismare the following art styles:
 cubism
 futurism
 mechanical style
 nonobjectivism

Cubism

The cubist style derived its name from the cube, a three dimensional geometric figure composed of strictly measured lines, planes, and angles. Cubist artworks were, therefore, a play of planes and angles on a flat surface. Foremost among the cubists was Spanish painter/sculptor Pablo Picasso (right). In earlier styles, subjects were depicted in a three-dimensional manner, formed by light and shadow. In contrast, the cubists analyzed their subjects’ basic geometrical forms, and broke them up into a series of planes. Then they re-assembled these planes, tilting and interlocking them in different
ways.