The Modern Museum
Artwork of the Modern Movement
Image: Work from Pop-Artist Keith Haring
About This Exhibit
For many years, artists have been following the same techniques and styles from older and simpler art generations, in order to make what their artistic hearts desired. Although older movements have made a huge impact on the art world, many people in the 19th and 20th centuries believed it was time for a drastic change. The Modern Movement was that change. The Modern Movement is an umbrella term for many unique and controversial art pieces at the time. Many of these modern artists mainly focused on the rebellion of the previous art movements, which in turn created styles and movements that were unique, controversial, and sometimes even shocking to many art critics and the public. (SOURCES)
Featured Artist :
Starry Night Over the Rhone(1888)
Vincent Van Gogh
Post-Impressionism
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Description:
Vincent Van Gogh is most widely recognized for his painting The Starry Night, but what many people don't know is that The Starry Night is part of a series of nocturne paintings of various landscapes. Starry Night over the Rhone is one he made of the Rhone in Arline, South France. With the use of such expressive brush strokes, this piece particularly focuses on the bright Stars and gas-lit lights that cover the bridge, that in turn reflect on the dark blue water. Starry Night over the Rhone is one of Van Gogh's last pieces before his mental health took a drastic turn, but it is one of his paintings people don't know about.
Description:
In November 1872, Claude Monet painted what is known to be the first example of an Impressionist painting. Overlooking the Port of Le Havre, Monet painted the view from his hotel window of the harbor. In a series of 6 paintings, Monet created several landscape views of his hometown in Le Havre, France, from different times of the day. Sunrise- Impression, was during the sunrise over the harbor on that particular morning. Critics called his pieces merely an "impression" of the landscape he painted, because of the abstract features, quick brush strokes, and his vague representation of the lake and the people on it. However, this criticism coined the name of the Impressionist movement, which was also considered the first of the Modern Movement.
Impression- Sunrise (1872)
Claude Monet
Oil on canvas
Musee Marmotton Monet
Olympia (1865)
Édouard Manet
Oil on Canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Description :
Édouard Manet was a very influential impressionist and realism artist, but his works were very controversial. Taking parts and situations from his own life, Manet is known for going against the norm and painting quite taboo situations at the time. The painting Olympia, is one of his many controversial pieces. Instead of the typical painting of a nude goddess, which was very normal to see the time, we are shown a nude girl with many signs (the ribbon around her neck, the bow in her hair) that she is a prostitute. The woman is staring directly at us, the client, waiting on the bed with her servant removing flowers from the bed, while her cat stands in a frightened position at the end of her bed. Although this painting was looked down upon, it was still accepted when given to the French Salon (an art exhibit). However, many modern critics, such as Lorraine O’Grady and 21st-century feminists, argue the emphasis on the male gaze and patriarchy, and how the black maid is merely represented as a "robot " and is ignored while blending in the background. This painting was one of many controversial pieces of art of Manet's but, was still able to survive critics and their disgust.
Decription :
Henri Matisse is one of the most influential artists of the Modern Movement. After initially studying law, his inspiration to make art came from a quiet period when he was resting after recovering from appendicitis. Feeling the joy and bliss that came with painting, he then decided to move away from law and start studying the arts. Inspired by his studies in Southern France, his painting The Joy of Life is the best representation of the Fauvism movement. This large painting (6 feet in height, 8 feet in width), depicts a typical simple, arcadian lifestyle. Most of the critiques were not bothered by the nudes, but by the use of color. This atypical use of warm colors was used to not accurately depict the world around us but to be used as a tool of emotional expression, which is why it seems unnatural and strange. When looking into the piece, we see many different groups of people doing different things, such as the embracing couple and the group dancing in the back, which is a resemblance of activities that bring us joy. Specifically using warm colors is meant to bring us comfort when looking at this painting, which was what Matisse was trying to express. This piece was one of the influential works made by Henri Matisse and became the face of the Fauvism movement.
The Joy of Life (1906)
Henri Matisse -Fauvism
Oil on Canvas
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Nude Descending a Staircase (1912)
Marcel Duchamp - Cubism
Oil on Canvas
(Philadelphia museum of art)
Decription:
This famous Cubist painting by Marcel Duchamp was not well perceived when it first debuted. Not getting a good enough reaction in France, Duchamp decided to put his piece in an American exhibit called “The Armory Show”, which mostly featured impressionism and realism painters/pieces. So when deciding to enter an abstract, cubic-shaped painting certainly shocked American artists across the country, which in turn put his name out into the world. This strange, abstract depiction of a nude descending a staircase was a scandal at the time, being ridiculed by disgusted viewers. People disliked this painting because of its seemingly overlapping shapes that couldn't be deciphered, or in other words, they couldn't see the nude descending the staircase. The portrayal of this nude was only represented in public through distorted shapes and a cubic manner, with no actual real-life notions in the painting to understand what is happening. But, this unique painting was a new way of looking at the world, especially with the idea of motion. Because of the new invention of the camera shutter, this painting is shockingly similar in that in a sense it represents each movement, how quick and unnoticeable it might be when descending a staircase.
Women Sitting With Legs Drawn Up (1917)
Egon Schiele - Expressionism
Oil on canvas
(Narodni Galerie)
Description:
In 1917, Egon Schiele painted The Women With Legs Drawn Up, which is a painting of his wife, Edith Harms, sitting with her right knee drawn up to her chin, while she looks directly at the viewer. Her bent and provocative position, with her serious and almost romantic eye contact with the viewer, made it a very controversial painting at the time. This sexual nature of this painting is not an uncommon theme of Egon creations, in fact, this one might be the least erotic. His depiction of naked women, and even some self-portraits of himself naked, created upheaval in the art world and even the public. It was so controversial in fact, that Egon got placed in jail for promoting prostitution and pornography. His creations of the female figure were what placed him as an expressionist, and pushing the boundaries in his art career is what made him a well-known expressionist painter.
Untitled (Skull) (1981)
Jean-Michel Basquiat- Neo Expressionism
acrylic and crayon on canvas
(The Broad Los Angeles)
Description:
One of the most famous artists of the neo-expressionist movement, was street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He used his talent to express many aspects about being a poor black man living in New York, in a very unique way. His styles consist of multiple mediums and techniques, such as incorporating words, contrasting colors, and painting on canvases and walls, he was also one of the many people of the 80s to bring back the Neo-expressionist movement. Within all the chaos he created in his art, he found a way to talk about the struggles and opposition's of being a poor black man in New York, while also talking about being his experience in the prestigious art world, especially as being the only black man being represented. One of his early canvas works, "Untitled" or The Skull, is a great example of his unique style that consists of incorporating words, colors and imagery all in one, while also expressing what he was feeling at the time. He painted The Skull when living poor in New York, and he seemed to be tired of his turbulent life while also facing oppression everyday. An indicator of this is the stitches over the tired skulls head, indicating that is has been beat up over and over. Jean-Michel Basque created many masterpieces before his death in 1988, being able to tell multiple stories from different perspectives of his life, while also accurately expressing what he was feeling in an interesting way.
Women sitting on Naked man (1942)
Leonore Fini- Surrealism
Oil on Canvas
(New York/ADAGP, Paris; Private collection)
Description:
Lenore fini was overlooked by her male counter parts, and who created many unique and strange paintings that would be described as surrealist. However, Lenore would reject the idea of her being a surrealist painter, due to the fact that the movements mostly depicts misogynist men, sexualizing women as their main focus. In order to go against the norms, she created many paintings with nude men instead of women, while making women the main focus of her paintings. This was not meant to demean or objectify men, but to mostly represent and appreciate feminine qualities within men, while making the women the center piece. Her painting Women Sitting on Naked Man is a perfect example of her ability to switch the gender roles, while making the man more gentle like with soft features. Her dream like paintings got weirder overtime, but still making women the center piece without overtly sexualizing them.
Girl in Death Mask (she plays alone) (1938)
Frida Kahlo
Oil on Metal canvas
Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Description:
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is widely known for her self-portraits and surrealist depictions of Mexican culture. Frida Kahlo highlights the experices of a mexian women who has gone through great pain and sufering. The painting "Girl with a death mask" is an accurate representation of what she was feeling as a child suffering through polo. In the painting, we see a little girl standing in the middle of a field, wearing a pink dress with a traditional skeleton mask that was typically worn during the Day of the Dead, a Mexican festival. She holds a red flower, which also is a symbol of the Day of the Dead, and sitting next to her is a disturbing tiger mask, which seems to be the only entity with her in this vast open field, and can also be interpreted to protect her from evil. This painting expresses Frita's isolation and loneliness she felt as a child and even as an adult. Being in the hospital for so long and with her variety of health issues as a child, the ability to make friends or even play outside was limited and scarce, making this quite disturbing painting feature some sad undertones.
Description:
During the late 20th century, Keith Haring became the face of street art and pop art. being able to create a "low" art subject, within "high" art places like museums, Keith loved to use bright colors and cartoonish figures in his work. Keith's work featured many aspects of cultural commentary, featuring many issues of the 80s such as prejudice against the gay community and the taboo subject of AIDS. He was able to bring attention to it by demonstrating it in a fun or cartoonish manner, so the information would be easier for people to digest and understand. His work "Untitled", or Two Men in Love, that features two men in love, is a great example of using his platform to bring light into the gay community. In this piece, we see two simple drawings of men with big red hearts in the middle, seemly joyful and excited to be with each other. The painting depicting a gay couple as fun and normal was very controversial at the time. Although his later pieces had much more explicit sexual content, this simple painting of two men in love kickstarted his career by displaying issues of the world, especially in normalizing gay relationships.
"Untitled" (Two men in love) (1982)
Keith Haring - pop-art
Acrylic On Vinyl
The Keith Haring Foundation
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