classical vs. modern art

A timeless contrast of art styles

ARTS AND CULTURE | March 2025

Modern art evokes a feeling of boldness, innovation, and new perspective while classical art gives a feeling of timelessness, elegance, and beauty.

Classical art

Classical art generally refers to artworks created by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Classical art was diverse and often publicly accessible. It often stands out because of its realism and detail. While Classical art emphasizes realism, detail, beauty, harmony, and Western Civilization, Modern art focuses on being free and less formal and can often be rebellious and misunderstood. 

Classical art is considered to have timeless beauty. It displays ancient Greek and Roman culture and is heavily influenced by Western culture. Classical art is very detail-oriented and uses traditional materials like marble, oil paint, and canvas.

Examples of Classical art are Michelangelo’s sculptures or da Vinci’s paintings. Classical art is often tied to religion, mythology, and patronage by royalty or the church. Classical art often featured themes like patriotism, courage, and self-sacrifice. For example, there is “The Path of the Horatii” by Jacques-Louis David and “The Sacrifice of Polyxena” by Charles Le Brun

Modern art

While Classical art heavily focused on realism, Modern art rejected strict realism, encouraging artists to push creative boundaries. Modern art includes work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s. Modern art uses vibrant colors, bold brushstrokes, abstract, and expressive forms and shapes.

Examples of Modern art include “Composition VII” by Wassily Kandinsky and "Victory Boogie Woogie" by Piet Mondrian. Modern art focuses on exploring new concepts such as movement, time, or space.

Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists around the world used new imagery, materials, and techniques to create artworks that they felt better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies.

While there are many forms of Modern art all over the world, they all have the same theme of rejecting traditions and conservative values and focusing on innovation. Examples are "The Bottle and Fishes" by Georges Braque and “Metamorphosis of Narcissus” by Salvador Dalí.

In the late 90's and early 2000's, the House Style began to fade allowing creatives to be more free with how they would draw each issue. Artists like Tim Sale and Ivan Reis began to create comics that broke the norm, giving characters odd proportions and new features that helped build how the characters would be perceived for years to come.

I feel like this has helped keep comics feeling fresh adding a new layer to how people perceive the comic medium. It has shown the general public that comic books are an art form and not just things to be read and then thrown to the side.

I feel, as we enter a new age of comics, we will see more diverse art, especially in digital comics. Artists who are willing to create their own styles will be the individuals who help keep the comic medium thriving.