Floor 2 Modern Art

Anyone who says: "I don't like modern art", probably doesn't understand the technical meaning of what they are saying. Most people use the term pejoratively to describe some sub-class of 20th century art they don't like. Scholar's, however, have named the period from about the time of the American Revolution (about 1750) to the start of the 20th Century (in 1901) as the period of "Modern Art". In any case most people who say they don't like modern art adore it; it includes some of the most popular art ever created.

Now the same person who says they don't like modern art might well be reluctant to say: "I don't like 20th century art", because most people do like much of 20th century art and they probably have no objection to any art before 1901. In fact, in common parlance "modern art" really refers to abstract expressionism; so if you want to look at what most people object to it will not be found on this floor, you'll have to look in the basement of this museum and you will find it along will the rest of 20th century art that most people love.

The modern art you will meet on this floor mostly follows a couple of traditions: the romantic and the neo-classic. Romantic art specialises in glorifying even the most unpleasant human experiences, like war; its subjects range from the poor and country life to views of nature and the aristocratic personages of the day.

The neo-classic tradition tries to go back to invented ideals of Greek and Roman austerity and simlicity of form. It's subjects are drawn primarily from Greek and Roman myth, history, and the Bible.

While these two traditions did not end around 1850, a new esthetic was added into the artistic mix. The last fifty years of the period saw many changes in artistic purpose. Art began to move away from an almost photographic representation of reality (which started in the renaissance) and evolved toward other things: e.g. a representation of the artist's feeling about a subject, or a concentration on providing the impression of the way light played with the object, and to some extent toward the idea of art-for-art's-sake.

To get a feeling for art from the modern period here are a series of thumbnail pictures from the museum.

Click on a thumbnail to visit the museum gallery with pictures from that period. See if you can find the picture you clicked on.

Date	Europe	England	New World	MUSIC
1500	See Floor 1		Colonial Art Copley West	Monteverdi Lully Purcell
1600	See Floor 1	Blake Hogarth		Vivaldi Telemann JS Bach Handel
1750	Romanticism / Neo-Classism Friedrich JL David	English Portrature Gainsborough Reynolds	Pre-Civil War Cole Catlin	Haydn Mozart Beethoven Berlioz Schubert
1850	Impressionism Manet Piassarro	English Romantic Landscapes Copley Turner	Post-Civil War Eakins Bierstadt	Verdi Wagner Brahms Tchaikovsky
1880	Post Impressionism Munch Klimt	Pre-Raphalites Rossetti Leighton		Puccini Mahler Debussy R Strauss Schoenberg Ravel

Visit the museum 2st floor where all the modern art is located.