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Art & Art History vocabulary · Movements & Periods

Modern art

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

nounCore term

In art & art history, modern art means: Art made roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, when artists broke with academic traditions and experimented with new styles, subjects and materials.

In Turkish: modern sanat

How it is used

Used for this period and its movements, from Impressionism to Pop Art. Many museums use the term in their names, such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and İstanbul Modern. The dates are approximate and vary between writers.

Example sentences

  1. The modern art collection starts with Cézanne and ends with Warhol.

  2. Is this modern art or contemporary art? It depends on when it was made.

Common collocations

  • museum of modern art
  • pioneers of modern art
  • modern and contemporary art
  • modern art collection
  • contemporary artThe art of the present time, usually meaning work made from about the 1960s or 1970s to today, often using new media, ideas and ways of exhibiting.
  • avant-gardeArtists, works or ideas that are new and experimental and challenge accepted rules; the word is French for the front part of an army.
  • abstract artArt that does not try to show people, objects or places realistically and uses shapes, colours, lines and marks to create its effect instead.
  • ImpressionismA French art movement of the 1870s and 1880s whose painters, such as Monet, Renoir and Morisot, tried to capture light, colour and passing moments, often painting outdoors.

More terms: Movements & Periods

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