Key Art Movements of the 19th & 20th Centuries

Impressionism

A group of artists renowned for their innovative painting techniques and approach to using colour in art and light in nature. They abandoned the conventional idea that the shadow of an object was made up from its colour with brown or black added. The Impressionists capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions on the landscape.

Dadaism

A form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political, and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance, and politics.

Surrealism

Was the 20th-century art movement that sought to liberate creativity from the limitations of rational thought by exploring the hidden depths of the 'unconscious mind', a heightened reality that was only achievable in a world of dreams and the imagination.

Pop Art

Was the art of popular culture. It was the visual art movement that characterized a sense of optimism during the post-war consumer boom of the 1950s and 1960s. It coincided with the globalization of pop music and youth culture, personified by Elvis and the Beatles. Pop Art was brash, young, and fun and hostile to the artistic establishment.

Abstract Expressionism: An art movement of the 1940s that emphasized form and color within a nonrepresentational framework.

Ashcan School: A group of New York realist artists at the beginning of the twentieth century who rejected the formal subject matter of the academy and focused on gritty urban scenes and ordinary, even ugly, aspects of life.

Expressionism: Stresses the expression of emotion and the inner vision of the artist rather than the exact representation of nature. Distorted lines and shapes and exaggerated colors are used for emotional impact. Vincent Van Gogh was a precursor of this movement.

Op Art: The 1960s movement, known as Optical Painting, is characterized by geometrical forms that create an optical illusion in which the eye is required to blend the colors at a certain distance.

Realism: Its aim was to depict the customs, ideas, and appearances of the time using scenes from everyday life.