Modernism in visual arts refers to artworks produced between 1870 and 1970 and its main characteristics are the rejection of traditional art in favour of new forms of artistic experimentations.
Modernism, in general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, and even the sciences, were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging industrialized world.
Modernist art starts with the Impressionist artists and the Pre-Raphaelites for the rejection of traditional art and academic forms and includes various movements such as: Art Nouveau, Cubism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop-Art.
Although Modernism is not characterized by a single trend, abstract art began dominating the post-Cubism decades which reflected the new ideals and belief in progress.
Abstract art, also called non-objective art, is a form of art in which little or no attempt is made to objectively reproduce or depict the appearance or forms of objects in the realm of nature or the existing physical world.
Although after modernism, the next art movement is post-modernism, many artists today embrace the modernist values and aesthetics, mainly for the element of experimentation, giving artists total freedom of expression.
