Difference between modern art and contemporary art

Modern art and contemporary art are two very different things. If we want to make a leap into the world of art, it is essential to know how to differentiate them.

There is nothing less imaginative than introducing a text by quoting the dictionary, but in this case, it is appropriate to start by defining the two key words of this article. Modern is that “which belongs to the present, to the current time” and by contemporary we refer to something that “exists at the same time as something else, which belongs to the same time as it.” They are two adjectives that are very similar in meaning and, therefore, when speaking we use them in a similar way to describe something new, current, or trendy.

Unlike what happens in the dictionary, when it comes to artistic catalogs, there is a marked difference between modern art and contemporary art. A contrast that, if we want to make a leap into the world of art, is essential to recognize. Don't worry, this is not a distorted task of artistic subjectivity, the truth is that identifying the differences between modern and contemporary art is very simple. Let's go!
MODERN ART

By modern we mean art created at the end of the 19th century and until the first decades of the 20th century. It all began in 1872, when Claude Monet came up with the idea of using short, dynamic and somewhat blurred brushstrokes to bring to canvas his Impression, Sunrise, the first impressionist work in history.

The impressionist movement sought to revolutionize the way of making art and capturing reality; these artists stopped worrying about hiding the brushstroke and began to pay attention to other details, such as light and color. Thus, the brushstrokes, sometimes rough and uneven, are diluted into a whole that resembles the visual impression that remains in memory. Impressionism was revolutionary (and highly criticized) because it showed a new way of representing reality.

The Impressionists were the pioneers of modern art, because they challenged academic traditions, freeing art from classical principles and paving the way for later artists. New artistic trends and pictorial movements emerged later, such as Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and Futurism. Art opened the doors to experimentation, and artists began to explore themes such as abstraction, geometry, the world of dreams, the unconscious, symbolism, among many others.

We are faced with a new way of approaching artistic creation: the objective of art is no longer based on the need to imitate reality.
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