Modern Art Movements and Key World War II Milestones

Modern Art Movements and Artistic Revolutions

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

Impressionism emerged in 1870; artists sought to capture the immediate effects of light and atmosphere in their works. They used small brushstrokes and overlapping pure colors. Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas are the most important painters of this movement.

Post-Impressionism emerged in 1886 and revised Impressionism by creating new approaches which constitute the precedent for new avant-garde movements. They used curved and thick brushstrokes. Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Paul Gauguin are the most significant painters.

Fauvism, Expressionism, and Cubism

Fauvism, appearing in 1905, attached importance to drawing and used color flatly, independent of reality. Henri Matisse was its leading figure.

Expressionism also emerged in 1905, aiming to evoke moods and emotions. Artists used colors arbitrarily and represented introverted figures. Key artists include Edvard Munch and Ernst L. Kirchner.

Cubism began in 1907. Its first phase, called Analytic Cubism, decomposed objects into geometric forms. The second phase, called Synthetic Cubism, built objects by combining independent elements. Pablo Ruiz Picasso and Georges Braque were the pioneers of this style.

Dadaism, Surrealism, and Abstract Art

Dadaism was a provocative artistic movement that asserted the destruction of art, randomness, and absurdity. Marcel Duchamp is its most famous representative.

Surrealism was inspired by the unconscious world and dreams as the primary sources for creative works. René Magritte is a notable figure in this movement.

Abstract Art removed any reference to the real world from the works; color and shapes became the sole focus of the painting. Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian were central to its development.

The Evolution of Modern Architecture

The Modern Movement

The Modern Movement was characterized by a lack of excessive decoration, a tendency to simplify forms, and a high value placed on the function of the building. It produced two major branches: Functionalism and Organic Architecture.

• Functionalism: Characteristic of Europe, it sought to create a new architecture based on reason and the principle that "form follows function." Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier were its primary architects.
• Organic Architecture: Mainly developed in the United States, it tried to integrate buildings into nature using more expressive materials and curved forms. Frank Lloyd Wright was its leading proponent.

Key Events and Conferences of World War II

Major Military Turning Points

The Allies were the alliance of nations that fought the Axis powers in World War II and signed the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. Stalingrad was the pivotal place where Russia stopped Germany as the war events played out during the second stage of the conflict.

Wartime and Post-War Conferences

• Tehran Conference (November 1943): It was agreed that the USSR would annex the Baltic States and eastern Poland.
• Yalta Conference (February 1945): Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin agreed that Europe would be politically rebuilt with democratic governments.
• Conference of Potsdam (July–August 1945): It was determined that German annexations in Europe would be reverted. The nation would also be demilitarized and divided as established at Yalta, war reparations would be paid, and Nazi war criminals would be punished.