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20th Century Art begins with Impressionism through to contemporary art.

Major artistic movements that carried us through the first half of the century include Post Impressionism, Divisionism, Proto-Expressionism, Art Nouveau, and Fauvism.

The Bridge was one of the earliest recognized groups who created seminal work of the 20th century. The group was composed of spirited, young, anti-war artists in Dresden, Germany between 1905 and 1913 who believed themselves to be a link between the past and future, thus a bridge. They were united by communal life and their rebellion against “the tyranny of the new materialism inspired by the Industrial Revolution”. They strove for enlightenment through self-expression and psychological exploration; their work reflects the search.

Another seminal group of the 20th century was The Blue Rider. This was a sophisticated, intellectual group lead by Kandinsky in Munich, Germany. Their work expresses “an outward expression of an inner feeling.” As with other expressionistic groups in Germany, the Blue Rider painters were individualistic, interested in psychology, highly emotional and “passionately subjective.” They chose the blue rider image because they associated it with a spiritual non-figurative mystical art of the future.

Cubism gave rise to a new era in 20th century art with its related styles: Pre-Cubism, Analytical Cubism, Synthetic Cubism, Futurism, Neo-Plasticism, and Dadaism.

The Metaphysical School is an important precursor to Surrealism. The only artist of the Metaphysical School, de Chirico, in his short career of four years in this style, painted his very personal, strange vision.

The 20th century drew to a close with Organic Surrealism, Naturalistic Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism

Color Field painting, influenced by Matisse, Fauvism, and Surrealism was relatively inert and bare. Color applied to flat surfaces suggests an overall calm, meditative, otherworldly place. The goal was to eliminate all obstacles between the artist and the idea, and between the idea and the viewer. There is no attempt at representation in the narrative sense; the subject is color.

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