Modern art: A very short introduction

Abstract

Examines many key aspects of this subject, including the issue of controversy in modern art, from Manet’s Dejeuner sur L’Herbe (1863) to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles, and Tracey Emin’s Bed, (1999); and the role of the dealer. Public interest in modern art continues to grow, as witnessed by the spectacular success of Tate Modern and the Bilbao Guggenheim. What makes a work of art qualify as modern (or fail to)? How is this selection made? What is the relationship between modern and contemporary art? Is ‘postmodernist’ art no longer modern, or just no longer modernist? Why, and what does this claim mean, both for art and the idea of ‘the modern'?