ARTA 111 | MODERN ART

Naturalism

Art style that represents nature, including people, with the least possible distortion or interpretation. It aims to show subjects as they truly appear in real life.

Jules Bastien-Lepage

A French painter closely associated with the beginning of Naturalism, an artistic style that grew out of the Realist movement and paved the way for the development of Impressionism. (ex. Hay Making)

Hay Making

Portrays farm workers resting after labor and reflects the Naturalist focus on ordinary life, realistic environments, and human experiences.

Jean-François Millet

A French Realist and Naturalist painter best known for his powerful depictions of rural workers and peasant life in nineteenth-century France. A leading figure of the Barbizon School, he transformed everyday agricultural labor into subjects of monumental dignity,

Impressionism

Style of painting developed in France during the mid-to-late 19th century. Characterizations of the style include small, visible brushstrokes that offer the bare impression of form, unblended color and an emphasis on the accurate depiction of natural light.

Claude Monet

French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. (ex. The Water Lily Pond)

Paul Cezanne

Most influential artist in the history of modern painting. Known for his incredibly varied painting style and Cubism. (ex. Les Pommes).

Edouard Manet

A French modernist painter. one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. (ex. Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass))

Post-Impressionism

Developed as both an influence of and a reaction against Impressionism. Created individual artistic styles that emphasized defined forms and shapes, broken colors, short and visible brushstrokes, and personal expression.

Pointillism

A Post-Impressionist art movement that began in France in the late 19th century. Artists created paintings using tiny dots of pure color, which blend together when viewed from a distance to form images with bright colors and realistic light effects. It is known for its careful planning, precision, and focus on color harmony.

Georges Seurat and Paul Signac

Famous artists of Pointillism

Japonisme

The influence of Japanese art, design, and culture on European artists and designers during the late 19th century, especially after Japan opened to international trade in 1854. Asymmetrical and nature-themed compositions.

Hokusai

Famous artist of Japonisme

Synthetism

Art movement that developed in the late 19th century, combining observation of the real world with the artist’s emotions, imagination, and symbolic ideas. Uses bold colors, simplified forms, and symbolic meanings behind images.

Pictoral form

Focused on moving beyond the natural observation of Impressionism by emphasizing structure, emotion, symbolism, and individual artistic vision.

Primitivist

This in Post-Impressionism helped shape modern art by encouraging artists to move away from realism and explore abstraction, symbolism, and personal expression.

Paul Gauguin

Known for using simplified forms, symbolic imagery, and inspiration from Polynesian culture in works such as Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897–1898)

Neo-Impressionism

Emerged as a response to the empirical realism of Impressionism. Artists used scientific methods instead of spontaneous brushstrokes. The movement focused on creating predictable visual effects through color and technique.

Chromoluminarism

The theory behind Neo-Impressionism.

Art nouveau

Common characteristics of this art movement are muted colors, long and organic lines, and hand craftsmanship. These are subtle colors that are not bright or have beensubdued, dulled, orgrayed.

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Best known for his stained glass creations. Known for developing Favrile glass, recognized for its rich, iridescent colors.

Gustav Klimt

Known for his decorative style, gold leaf, and symbolic imagery. Explored themes of love, beauty, life, and femininity. His "Golden Phase" produced some of his most famous masterpieces.

Alphonse Mucha

Famous for decorative posters featuring elegant women, flowing lines, and floral motifs. Created advertisements, book illustrations, jewelry designs, and decorative panels.

Fauvism

Art movement that used pure and vibrant colors by applying straight from the paint tubes directly to the canvas. Done to produce a sense of explosion of colors in the canvas, to have a strong reaction to how they portray subjects.

Henri Matisse

Known for his bold colors, simplified forms, and expressive style. Believed color could convey emotion and meaning. Later became famous for his colorful paper cut-outs.

Cubism

Modern art movement developed between 1907 and 1914. It was introduced by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braquei. It transformed the way artists represented reality, as it focuses on two-dimensional geometric objects.

Perspective, foreshortening modeling

Cubism challenged these traditional artistic methods.

Futurism

Launched in 1909 by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Began as a modernist movement that celebrated technology, speed, energy, and the modern world. It created dynamic compositions.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Founder of the Futurist movement. Promoted ideas of speed, technology, and rejection of the past. Wrote the Manifesto of Futurism in 1909.

Umberto Boccioni

Known for artworks that expressed movement, energy, and modern life. (ex. Unique Forms of Continuity in Space)

Giacomo Balla

Explored motion, light, and speed in painting. (ex. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash)

Gino Severini

Combined Futurism with Cubist techniques. Painted scenes of dancers, war, and city life. (ex. Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin).