Modern art

What is modern art?

Modern art is a collective term for the period from roughly the 1860s to the 1960s. It begins with impressionism, when painters stopped attending to faithful realistic depiction, and ends with the arrival of postmodernism, which began to question the very nature of art. During this time artists consciously turned away from academic rules and set out in search of new visual forms.

What is the difference between modern and contemporary art?

Here lies the most common misunderstanding, and it is worth clearing up. Modern art is not what is being made right now, as the name might suggest; for today's work we have the term contemporary art. Modern art is a closed historical chapter of roughly a hundred years, whereas contemporary art is the living work of our own time — so when someone says modern, they do not necessarily mean the newest.

What movements and influences does modern art take in?

Modern art includes movements such as fauvism, cubism and surrealism, which set out to question received ideas about what is beautiful. Artists responded to the industrialisation of the world and its accelerating pace, and when Sigmund Freud came forward with his discoveries in psychology, they brought into art an interest in the unconscious, in dreams and in the irrational. Czech artists did not stand aside in this: they were a full part of all these European currents.

How highly is modern art valued on the market?

On the art market this is a highly valued period with many auction records, which makes it one of the most closely watched collecting categories of all. No wonder, since these are works by names known even to someone who never sets foot in a gallery. The most expensive modern painting in the world is, after all, a portrait by Gustav Klimt, which illustrates well the sums this field can involve.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club