7 famous avant-garde paintings

The 20th century was the century of the artistic avant-gardes, being one of the moments with the greatest number of styles and artistic trends in the history of art. Thus, in a few decades, a large group of artists from around the world embraced different artistic styles as they emerged and abandoned them for other new currents.

In this new lesson from unPROFESOR.com we offer you a selection of the famous avant-garde paintings that have impacted the most in their time and that continue to amaze us by their beauty and the great influence that the whole world of art has had and still has.

Index

1. Characteristics of avant-garde paintings of the 20th century
2. The Scream by Eduard Munch (1893), one of the famous avant-garde paintings
3. Lucifer by Jackson Pollock (1947)
4. The Young Ladies of Avinyó Street by Pablo Picasso, 1907
5. The Dance, Henry Matisse (1910)
6. Red Eiffel Tower, by Robert Delaunay (1911)
7. Movement of a corridor, by Umberto Boccioni
8. The persistence of memory, Salvador Dalí, 1931

The 20th century avant-garde painting They show a lot of originality, as well as an inexhaustible curiosity to investigate new materials, shapes, themes and concepts. In addition, they are appreciated two currents, the painters who chose for the figurative and they reflected reality in a more or less reliable way; while others turn away from it to choose what abstract.

They also sought inspiration in the art of other continents, especially the primitive art from Africa and Polynesia, and Asian art, especially Japanese.

On the other hand, the artists knew how to capture in their works the turbulent times that they had to live. A world in crisis in which painters not only want to represent reality as it is, with recognizable themes, they also seek revitalize art and show the world his conscience, his interpretation of reality, provoking the viewer and making him react to the world around him.

Among the main famous avant-garde paintings of the 20th century stands out The Scream by Eduard Munch. This is one of the most significant paintings of expressionism. It shows a drawing with sinuous lines, arbitrary and intense color, figures full of anguish and oppressed with a completely pessimistic and gloomy vision of life. The Scream by Munch is a truly iconic work of the 20th century.

The abstract expressionism is an abstract movement that comes from the New York School counting on Jackson Pollock as one of its main representatives.

In this case we observe one of Pollock's iconic techniques, the blasting or dripping. A technique that consists of applying paint without a brush, only throwing cans and tubes, the most important being the process of creation rather than the finished work.

The ladies of Avinyó street he is a revolutionary proto-cubist painting by Pablo Picasso It was a real change within the art world as it was a total break with realism and with what was established to show a nude with a set of angles.

The work scandalized even other painters of the time both for the theme, five prostitutes and the reflection on sex and death, as well as for the clear influence of art and African masks.

Henry Matisse (1869-1954), fauve, shows in this painting all the characteristics of this avant-garde movement. Thus, due to the arbitrariness of the color, strong and intense, the line of the drawing is thick and changeable as far as color is concerned. There is also no concern for light or depth, it is not about reflecting or imitating reality.

The composition is very simple and the movement is out of the frame, with very strong color contrasts and an intense sense of movement.

This painting belongs to the Orphism stream, forming part of a famous series of paintings in which the Eiffel Tower crumbles into multiple fragments. Delaunay juxtaposes different perspectives and different points of view to offer us a different and provocative image of the iconic Parisian tower.

In this frame, Boccioni captures the dynamism of the 20th century. It is about offering the sensation of movement over any other aspect of the work. Something for which the painter resorts to color and to juxtapose different positions of the corridor's body as well as the cinema, art in which he is inspired. Belongs to futurism.

We end this review of famous avant-garde paintings by talking about one of the most known works of Dalí, reflecting in it the concern of the human being for time and the impossibility of being able to control the passage of it.

This is one of the most representative works of surrealism, being representative of the famous paranoiaccritical method, means that Dalí used to create and by which psychotic hallucinations were induced to carry out his creations.

If you want to read more articles similar to Famous avant-garde paintings, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• Albrecht, Hans Joachin (1981) "Sculpture in the 20th century". Blume. Barcelona.
• Blok, Cor (1992) "History of abstract art (1900-1960)". Chair. Madrid.
• Bürger, Peter (1987) "Theory of the avant-garde". Peninsula Editions, Barcelona
• Cirlot, L. (ed.) (1995) First artistic vanguards. Texts and documents. Work. Barcelona
• Micheli, Mario (1990) "The artistic Vanguards of the 20th century". Alliance. Madrid