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The Starry Night, oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, 1889; in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

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Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionism around 1886 to 1905. While the term floated around a lot, Robert Fray coined the term in his seminal exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists installed it at the Grafton Galleries in London in 1910. During this time Paul Cézanne, the father of Post-Impressionism, set out to restore a sense of order and structure to painting, and to focus on symbolism and substance over style. He Along with Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, achieved this by reducing objects to their basic shapes while retaining the saturated colors of Impressionism. This new found art style became popular because it both extended Impressionism and at the same time rejected its limitations. Post Impressionism uses a thick application of paint, vivid colors, and real-life subject matter. Artists were also more inclined to emphasize the geometric form and use unnatural and random colors within their paintings. The modernisation of impressionism allowed artists to express themselves and look at art in a more symbolic way rather than historical. From here many different forms of Impressionism started to take place with Georges Seurat taking an interest in pointillism and Vincent van Gogh using imposto, a new form of painting technique used in one of the most famous paintings in the world,The Starry Night.

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Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884–86). Oild on Canvas, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. Courtesy the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

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Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

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With La Grande Jatte, Seurat was immediately acknowledged as one of the leaders of a new rebelion of art called post impressionism. This piece is one of the largest pieces George Surate ever created, taking him around two years to finish. The medium Surate used was oil on canvas and it shows people relaxing in a suburban park on the banks of River Seine on a Sunday afternoon. Inspired by Michel Eugène Chevreul, Surate took an interest in color theory which influenced him to create A Sunday on La Grande Jatte using a series of small dots called pointillism. At the time no other artist had done this making this one of the most famous pieces ever created.  While this piece consists of small dots from a distance it is almost seamless, creating an optical effect on the eye using light and shadows of different colored dots.  While pointillism plays a huge part in why this piece is part of the post impressionism movement the composition of the artwork shouldn't be overlooked. A lot of feeling is being expressed within the dots of pointillism. For example many of the people don't have faces and are in their own way alone. When looked at closely each person seems to be independent and not expressing any joy creating some symbolic content of the time it was created.

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Maurice Prendergast, In the Park, Paris (1891), oil on canvas,23.81 x 34.61 cm, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

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Maurice Prendergast, In the Park, Paris (1891)

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Maurice Prendergast, In the Park, Paris (1891)

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Maurice Prendergast, the creator of In the Park, was an American painter whose color scheme and artistic style best represented post-impressionism. Post Impressionism didn't hit America much until the 1900s, however this piece was created in 1891 showing the growing ideas and artistic style of painting. Prendergast was inspired by Boston Impressionist Childe Hassam. He loved the way Hassam painted people in cities, however Prendergast wanted to take his ideas of people and use a more structural technique with added pops of color. This piece in particular was one of Prendergast's first concept art ideas believed to be the start of his post-impressionism ideas.  While he had talent this piece never quite made it to his art exhibitions or gallery walls, however this piece still holds significance as it shows one of Prendergast's earliest starts of post-impressionism with his use of bright colors yet symbolic figures with no expressions and exposing objects to their basic forms.  While the objects are basic they are also structural creating movement without caos a perfect example of bringing structure to impressionism. Because this was considered a concept art piece when Prendergat died in 1924, In the Park became public domain with the original piece's whereabouts unknown.

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Image Courtesy: HIGH-RES GALLERY: Benz Patent Motorwagen replica 

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During the time Georges Seurat created his iconic piece A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, a life changing invention was being created known as the motorwagen. This invention was created in Germany, and on January 29, 1886, where Carl Benz applied for a patent that is considered to be the birth certificate of the automobile. While this historic event did not happen in France it had a great impact around the world and on many artists. The invention itself was as simple as an automobile could get. It had no steering wheel and was very loud, however at the same time this event sparked a new age of ideas and started us on our way to the automobiles we know of today. These new ideas and ways of travel allowed for artists to create advertising and France took full advantage with lots of ads, a popular one being the car engines spark-ignition advertising for Liebig Extract of Meat. With this artists now had new resources for their artistic palette. While the invention didn't make it into the post impressionism art movement due to timing, it still was an extraordinary historical event that influences artists of today. One famous artist who used the automobile perspective was Henri Matisse with his view of the interior of an automobile. This historic event will forever change the ways in which our society functions and the way artists view the world.

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Alice Paul raises funds for the suffrage movement outside the headquarters of the National Woman’s Party in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of National Woman’s Part. 

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Alice Paul was born on January 11, 1885 where with the love and support of her family went on to do graduate work in New York City and England. While in England Paul became politically active and was unafraid to use dramatic measures in support of a cause. She also joined the women's suffrage movement in London and was arrested on more than several occasions. The measures Paul was willing to go through consisted of not only jail time, but also going on hunger strikes and protests. When Paul returned to the United States in 1910 she became part of the women's rights movement and devoted her life to changing the way the world thinks about women. She pushed for women to have the right to vote and eventually started a National Woman's Party with Lucy Burns. This Party became the voice that led to the passing of the 19th Amendment. While she may not have been seen in the art community Alice Paul made a significant impact on women and how our world views them. Because of Paul's continuist activism she has changed the way women are not only depicted, but how they are depicted in art. Paul also may have shaped more opportunities for women to be accepted by the male dominated art community of the time.

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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)

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Cubism is the abandonment of perspective and realistic modeling of figures (Stein, n.d.). Cubism, as a movement, had two main fazes before expanding into other movements after 1922 Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. The movement developed after the aftermath of Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 (Stein, n.d.). "It depicts five naked women composed of flat, splintered planes whose faces were inspired by Iberian sculpture and African masks." (Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles D'Avignon. Paris, June-July 1907, n.d.) The leading artists were Pablo Picasso and Georges Barque. The first phase was Analytic Cubism (1910-1912). A style of Cubism that "fractured the subject into multi-layered, angular surfaces that brought still lifes and portraiture close to the point of total abstraction." (Gleizes & Metzinger, 2020). Synthetic Cubism(1912-1914) was the faze that would take over. Wish had an overall more playful aesthetic, as seen in the work of Juan Gris. Rather than multi-layered and angler surfaces, Synthetic had flat perspectives with multiple viewpoints. "Synthetic Cubism embraced a broader palette, simpler geometric planes, and more representable subject matter too." (Synthetic Cubism - Modern Art Terms and Concepts, 2020). "Gris, who believed that there was more to art than just replicating scenes from the bland material world, also drew on a more expressive palette to produce his works." (Synthetic Cubism - Modern Art Terms and Concepts, 2020)

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1909 Violin and Palette Artist: Georges Braque is one of the most well-known pieces from Analytic Cubism. The first phase of Picasso’s and Braque’s joint creation was a new “approach to the pictorial representation of objects in space.”(Cramer & Grant, n.d.). The image's primary focus has broken with a multi-angular multi-viewpoint method, which is the mark of  Analytic Cubism. The artwork has a violin music note and artist palettes in the background, probably those in the Braques workspace.  Unlike most other Analytic Cubism paintings, it is brighter and has a more neutral tone than Picasso and other Cubists. As a result, it has a brighter color palette, like those in Synthetic Cubism.  This vertical alignment  approach has the effect of "heightening their correspondence to the two-dimensional surface." (Apollinaire, n.d.). Braque did this it get as close as possible to the object to get a still life implied tactile qualities. Georges Braque favored musical instruments because they held the ability to be animated with one touch, and he tried to put that significance into how painting. "Like the rhythms and harmonies that are the life of musical instruments, dynamic spatial movement is the essence of Braque's lyrical Cubist paintings." (Apollinaire, n.d.). It was an effort to capture the object's life and ability, akin to how impressionists tried to capture the moment.

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The Red Bus Clarice Beckett (Australian, 1887-1935) Oil on canvas on composition board 36.5 x 44cm

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Australian Tonalism or otherwise known as the Misty Moderns. Tonalism is an art style that is environmental-focused impressionism, with the main focus not on the people in the painting but on the weather and the environment's lighting. Created and pioneered by Max Meldrum, "Tonalism is fundamentally different and is best understood as a painting system.." (Gross, 2009). Meldrum's new method replaces rapid underdrawing with a tonal impression. This method created a "soft-focus, tonal atmospheric aesthetic" (Apollinaire, n.d.), unlike the art of other movements. At this time, there was either great detail or a focus on people in the image. In addition, it aimed to create an illusion of nature that responded to the environment through studying nature with artists using a radically reduced color palette and feathering brushwork. (Introducing Clarice Beckett - AGSA, n.d.). In the words of Clarice Beckett, one of the key members of the movement, "To give a sincere and truthful representation of a portion of the beauty of Nature, and to show the charm of light and shade, which I try to give forth in correct tones so as to give as nearly as possible an exact illusion of reality" (Introducing Clarice Beckett - AGSA, n.d.).

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Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912 Marcel Duchamp

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The International Exhibition of Modern Art, known as the Armory Show, started in 1913. The 4,000 people at the opening saw 1,300 pieces, two-thirds of American pieces, but the show stars were Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, and Duchamp. This event was the first time the phrase "avant-garde" had described painting and sculpture. (Vitale, 2013). Until then, American audiences had become accustomed to seeing a different type of art. Until this point, they saw Rembrandts and Titians in the galleries. "a very realistic type of art," says Marilyn Kushner, the co-curator of an exhibition called "The Armory Show at 100." (Vitale, 2013). So many American viewers came to the show expected impressionism and landscape paintings. Instead, the "The Armory Show exposed the public to the new language of abstract art and Expressionism, and brought the style of the European avant-garde to the recognition of American critics and artists alike." (Impact of the 1913 New York Armory Show on American Artists - Video & Lesson Transcript, 2021). Abstract art diverted from what had come to respect and appreciate before this time. "former president Theodore Roosevelt mockingly called the Cubists the 'Knights of the Isosceles Triangle,' ridiculing the pretension of the European art movement. He called the Cubists and Futurists' lunatic fringe' and 'European extremists.'" (Impact of the 1913 New York Armory Show on American Artists - Video & Lesson Transcript, 2021). This show would continue to this day.

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Photograph - Kunsthaus Zürich (reproduction of original photograph)

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The main characteristics of Dada art is that it was meant to shock the public and protest current power structures by being mildly obscene, funny, nonsensical, whimsical, colorful, irreverent, and eclectic. At the time that Dadaism emerged, Art Nouveau had dominated the art scene since about 1895 but Cubism and Futurism had started to take the spotlight. Cubism was focused on portraying the geometric structures of objects to show their structure rather than just their appearance. Futurism, on the other hand, was characterized by the depiction of speed and the machine, both figuratively and literally. Dada broke from these established artistic practices in a few ways. For one, the Dadaists were not necessarily trying to start an art movement, but rather were simply reacting to the senselessness of World War I. Their mission was to protest the war and cause the public to question the meaning of art and artists by creating anti-art and nonsensical art. Dada is considered modern art because it creatively carried a message of change. It challenged current power structures such as the war leaders and the bourgeois. Also, the art itself is modern as it portrays every day objects as art. It can be argued that Dada became famous in 1916 when poet Hugo Ball debuted his poem “Karawane” in the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Three visual artists that strongly represent the Dada movement are Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann, and Hannah Höch.

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Marcel Duchamp 1917 Fountain- The Philadelphia Museum of Art

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Marcel Duchamp encapsulated the Dada movement in 1917 when he presented his groundbreaking Fountain at an exhibition in New York held by the Society of Independent Artists. Fountain may sound harmless, but it evoked one of modern art’s biggest controversies. Duchamp was part of the group of artists that started the Society of Independent Artists in 1916. They believed that no judges should control which artists’ works made it into the show. Little did his colleagues know what he was planning to contribute to their upcoming exhibition in April of 1917. Fountain was a mere porcelain urinal, flipped on its back, signed with a fake name, “R. Mutt”, and dated “1917”. The Independents were outraged and rejected his work, leading to Duchamp’s resignation as an act of protest. Duchamp didn’t stop there. He had his work photographed and published in an avant-garde magazine for all to see. Fountain was extremely significant when it was created. It was considered “readymade” because it was not an original work of art, created with the artist’s bare hands. This offended not only the public but also many artists at the time. It caused people to question, “What is art?” and “What is an artist?” In this way, he accomplished both shocking the public and causing them to question the purpose of art in their modern, war-riddled world.

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Squares with Concentric Circles, 1913, Wassily Kandinsky

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While Dadaism was just beginning to brew in Western Europe, Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky was dabbling in early abstract painting. Kandinsky, originally a law teacher, decided to pursue art instead at the age of 30. He liked to experiment with form and color and aimed to display a sense of spirituality. In 1913, he did a small study about color combinations. Though he did not intend this to become an actual work of art itself, it did, and Squares with Concentric Circles was born. Squares with Concentric Circles is considered an abstract painting because it is a nontraditional piece which portrays a pattern, yet has variety. It is balanced and has movement. Kandinsky’s piece is very representative of the art period in which it was made, Modernism, because it captured what the Modernism art movement was all about. Modernism celebrated artists who created something original, something that had not been seen before. It celebrated the simple things. Kandinsky used simple forms like circles, colors, and lines to express what was going on inside of him. Modernism aimed to break the confines of traditional art, which is exactly what Kandinsky accomplished with this piece, in a new, innovative way that had not been seen before.

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Assassination illustrated in the Italian newspaper Domenica del Corriere, 12 July 1914 by Achille Beltrame

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The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 1914

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The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 1914

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The event known as “The Spark” took place on June 28, 1914, and caused a series of events which not only started Dadaism, but also dramatically changed the course of human history. “The Spark” refers to the event which started World War I. Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist. His assassination was then used as an excuse by Austria to conquer Serbia. So, Austria declared war on Serbia and Serbia’s ally, Russia, declares war on Austria. Then, Austria’s ally, Germany, declared war on Russia, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. Britain then declared war on the Central Powers- Germany and Austria. So now almost every country in Europe is in a war. Germany wanted this war to show how great they were and everyone else wanted to use this war to teach Germany a lesson. Many people were subjected to the reality of the horrors of war, including artists, writers, and intellectuals who escaped to Zurich, Switzerland to avoid the war. It is there, in Zurich, that many of these artists and writers came together, angry that such a modern society would allow a war to happen. They banded together to protest the war by abandoning all previous societal traditions- including artistic traditions. They called their movement “Dada.”

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Clarice Beckett, Across the Yarra c.1931, oil on cardboard. Courtesy National Gallery of Victoria.

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Clarice Beckett was one of the leading members of the Australian Tonalism movement and was born in 1887 and died in 1935 from pneumonia(Speck, 2021). In her time, she painted almost daily, going out in the early hours to catch the morning light. Many of the paintings were of the towns she lived. Unfortunately, very few of her paintings would sell. Due to critics' open dislike and "disparaged by the many art critics who were hostile to Meldrum's radical tonalism, Clarice Beckett was relatively unknown during her lifetime" (Her Own Path: Clarice Beckett, n.d.). She would eventually die with little to no notoriety, with almost 2000 of her paintings locked away in an open shed for 30 years (Her Own Path: Clarice Beckett, n.d.). Like many other female artists of that time, she had to be 'reinserted into the canon" (Speck, 2021). After a chance meeting with an art historian and one of Beckett's sisters in the late 1960s, nearly 2,000 of her painting were rediscovered, with only 369 being salvageable (Speck, 2021). Those remaining paintings would enter an art exhibition from 1971-1972 (Her Own Path: Clarice Beckett, n.d.). "Clarice Beckett is now recognised as one of the most significant Australian women artists of the 1920s and 30s and one of the country's most important landscape painters." (Her Own Path: Clarice Beckett, n.d.)

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Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

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Sigmund Freud is considered the father of modern psychology and was one of the most influential people in the early twentieth century. Freud was born in the Austrian Empire in 1856 but he grew up and lived in Vienna for the majority of his life. In Vienna, he studied to become a doctor and eventually began teaching at the University of Vienna. But, Freud had an interest in the human mind that he could not ignore, so he withdrew from teaching and began studying what would later be coined “psychoanalysis.” During his lifetime, Freud published many theories about the human mind, ranging from theories about the unconscious mind to theories about personality, sexual development, and even instincts about death. One of Freud’s books, “The Interpretation of Dreams” falls right in line with the early twentieth century’s curiosity with surrealism. In his book, he explores the unconscious mind and its relationship with the interpretation of dreams. Unfortunately, Freud and his family were forced from Vienna because of the discrimination against Jewish people and he died shortly after. Freud’s theories changed the way the public viewed the human mind, sexuality, dreams, mental illnesses and more, and those theories are still held in high regard today.

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Author: Andre Breton & Max Ernst - Medium: Book

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Inspired by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the surrealism art movement took place from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. Freud believes that subconscious thoughts and dreams were meant to be displayed, although they may be contrary to popular moral and aesthetic standards. The word ‘surrealist’ means beyond reality, meaning there was much more than meets the eyes, (“Surrealism, n.d.). Surrealism was a movement that wanted to modernize and revolutionize the human experience, seeking to break the chains of logic by finding beauty in the uncanny and impossible, (“History”, 2018). It would soon become the acceptable norm. Before in Dadsim, the movement before surrealism, art had no purpose, no reason, and no logic while in Surrealism, life has meaning only if one knows how to unlock the visual and verbal codes hidden within the unconscious mind. Famous artist André Breton, published his writing titled Surrealist Manifesto (1924), where he describes that expressing oneself verbally or by writing in the art of surrealism reveals ones true and honest thoughts, (“Surrealism, n.d.). This marked the introduction of surrealism to the world. Surrealist artists also commonly drew inspiration from mysticism, ancient cultures and presents new ways of imagining alternative realities. This type of artwork was effective in revealing the subconscious thoughts of the artists. 3 artists that present the surrealism art movement well are: Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dahli, Rene Magritte. They all collectively adopt an unconventional dreamlike art style that does not fail to captivate the audiences’ attention.

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Artist: Rene Magritte - Medium: Painting

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Painted in 1964 by Rene Magritte, The Son of Man is the most representative of the surrealism movement. The man’s face is unconventionally covered by an apple in order to blur out his unique characteristics, so we never know who he is. The mysterious man prompts the audience to wonder who exactly is behind the apple. It is speculated that this is done as a biblical reference to Jesus Christ, (Artincontext, 2022). The apple seems to be from the Garden of Adam and Eve. By the man’s outfit, we know he is a serious man who holds status and means business. Yet we know he is there. Although this man is physically present in the painting, there is still more to unravel on the man’s identity. The idea is that he is present but not blatantly so. This piques the curiosity of the audience. Most importantly like many surrealist artists, this artwork alludes to Sigmund Freud’s idea of the subconscious iceberg. Magritte claims that knows there is much that we see and what we don't see, but oftentimes the visible is sometimes hidden even though it is actually present. In the iceberg of subconsciousness, where we can see how deep or far the subconscious goes, but we are aware that there is more than just the tip of the iceberg,(McLeon, 2015).

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Artist: Alice Rahon - Medium: Oil and Sand on Canvas

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An increasing number of women began to participate in the Surrealism movement all across Southern America after finding influence from Europe. This type of art allowed them to break free of the gender confines, as well as incorporate Mexican mythical histories in order to make their own unique twist to the movement. Featured above is Los Cuatros Hijos de Arco Iris painted by Alice Rohan in 1960, (Paalen, n.d.). This painting has muted colors and also has a dreamlike quality to it. A lot is going on within the frame; it is incredibly detailed and 3-dimensional which is something Rohan specialized in. She utilizes oil and sand specifically for this painting because above all, she enjoyed sharing the intense relationship between art and nature. She would also use ash, feathers, dried leaves, and butterfly wings as other mediums, (Paalen, n.d.). This was a unique characteristic she used in her paintings allowing her to connect more deeply with her own femininity and become more involved, (Nelken, n.d.). She accurately represents the surreal period by incorporating her ancestry into a painting that shows the children of a rainbow and aspects nature are scattered throughout. This mural appears to be from a dream, one that leaves the audience curious to know the full story.

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Vietnam War and Woodstock Movement (1970's)

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Vietnam War and Woodstock Movement (1970's)

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The Vietnam war raged on from the time period of 1955-1975. This marked an important time outside of Europe’s border, one where America and Vietnam both faced major casualties and struggled economically (Cotter 2019). Yet many individuals were not in favor of the war, so it wasn't uncommon for Americans to protest their opinions and advocate for peace. One unique way America was able to protest the war peacefully, was by artistic means and that was through the Woodstock festival. Taking place in New York, for 3 days, this festival allowed for the start of a counterculture movement to begin and fostered a place for self-expression artistically and politically. By using the functionalist approach, one aspect would be the unifier: the collective conscious. This could be seen through the usage of patterns, symbols, music, and fashion. Also adopting the ‘make love, not war’ mantra, art would begin to flourish and spread influence through all cultures (Tham, 2021). It gave inspiration to races who previously had no voice, a way to express themselves and get their art out there.

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A significant individual during this time period to take note of, went by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. He lived from January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968.  As an American Baptist, minister, and activist, he was influential and advocated during the Civil Rights Movement. He is most famously recognized for his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech which was delivered on August 28, 1963, (Moritz and Wilson, n.d.). In it, he told his audience of the day he imagined all races would come together and no longer judge characters based on color, but based on the quality of character. Luther served to inspire many other individuals and gave many people the courage to move forward, to break against the social norm. In many ways, this is similar to the surreal movement which sought to find the truth and revolutionize. He was so impactful that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1964 for his dynamic leadership of Civil Rights and steadfast commitment to achieving racial justice through non-violent actions, (Martin Luther King, Jr., 2022). He was mainly known for leading a movement to end racial segregation and counter prejudice in the United States. He also was involved in social issues such as poverty, capitalism, and the Vietnam War.