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The Art:
Between 1905 and World War I, the so-called historical avant-gardes emerged, reacting to the prevailing
political, social, and cultural climate. They wanted to change art and society with new forms of expression, so
they broke radically with the concept of traditional art.
Characteristics:
• Publication of manifestos outlining the ideological principles and formal characteristics of their art.
• Rejection of academic art and classical artistic proposals. They presented themselves as innovative and
provocative.
• Disrespect for bourgeois conservatism and its appropriation of art. The new art was to serve the interests of
the masses.
• Defense of the artist’s endless creative expression.
• Break with the idea that art must represent beauty. Ugliness and the grotesque were also used to express
human concerns and themes
Fauvism:
• The Fauves, heirs to Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, created the first "ism" of the 20th century in 1905,
when they were labeled as "wild beasts" (fauves) during an exhibition in Paris, due to the violence of their
colors.
• In their works, color takes absolute precedence, bearing no resemblance to reality, but rather being used
symbolically, emphasized by sinuous lines that outline the forms.
• Henri Matisse, the most important representative of the movement, created an original art, influenced by his
post impressionist predecessors but also by primitive expressions.
•Notable works include Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure (1904), The Joy of Life, Blue Nude, Harmony in Red, and,
finally, the celebration of the primitive in The Dance
• Cubism emerged in the early 20th-century in Paris with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque as a reaction to
Fauvism.
Cubism
• The goal of Cubism was to represent three-dimensional objects in two-dimensional spaces, projecting them
onto the plane from multiple points of view and even from various moments in time.
• The artistic object had value in itself, so the artist had to capture its essence, “not just paint what is seen but
also what is known,” as Picasso said.
• Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) by Picasso is considered the first Cubist work.
• From this point, two fundamental stages are distinguished:
• Analytical Cubism (1909–1912) • Synthetic Cubism (1912–1914
• Analytical Cubism was characterized by the breakdown of forms and objects into a multitude of planes and
the use of a very muted color palette, as seen in Picasso's Portrait of Ambroise Vollard and Braque's Violin and
Jug (both from 1910).
•Synthetic Cubism involves a certain formalist recovery, with more clearly defined planes and a broader color
palette. Instead of analyzing and breaking down the object, it is synthesized, as in Still Life with Chair Caning
(1912) or La Botella deAnís del Mono (1914) by Spanish artist Juan Gris , where collage techniques are used
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Expresionissim:
● Expressionism encompasses various artistic movements that reflect anguish, pessimism, and
rejection of industrialization.
● Artists intentionally distort reality, using pure colors and curved lines, seeking to explore the morbid,
forbidden, sexual, and fantastical.
● The first generation of Expressionism lasted until World War I, and its key representatives were:
● Edvard Munch, a Norwegian artist, who exhibited a clear fear of the unknown and loneliness. His
work The Scream (1893) is a quintessential symbol of the Expressionist universe, where the face
resembles a spectral skull, reflecting intense existential anguish.
● James Ensor, a Belgian artist, shocked with morbid works featuring macabre masquerades, as seen in
Skeletons Fighting Over the Body of a Hanged Man (1891)
● The second generation of Expressionism emerged in pre-war Germany and is associated with two
groups:
● Die Brücke ("The Bridge"), founded in 1905, included artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, creator of Five
Women on the Street (1913), Emil Nolde, and in Vienna, Oskar Kokoschka. All of them showed an
interest in German printmaking, primitive art, and the works of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Munch.
● Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider"), founded in 1911 in Munich by Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc,
stood out for the expressive power of animals, often depicted with primary colors (as in Blue Horses,
1911)
