In Green Stripe, Matisse uses color in its pure, unblended form—no longer to imitate nature, but to function independently as the primary expressive element. With this painting, Matisse fully liberates color from its traditional descriptive role.

Rather than enhancing a romantic or atmospheric mood—as his Post-Impressionist predecessors often did—Matisse applies bold, even violent colors, directly from the tube, to create new pictorial values. His aim was not to reproduce reality but to construct an image based on formal relationships of color and line.

The face in Green Stripe is radically abstracted: a vivid green band slices down the center, from hairline to chin. This striking choice startled viewers with its departure from naturalistic portraiture. It signaled a new artistic freedom, where the subject is secondary to the artist’s expression and compositional invention.

This painting marks a crucial shift—Matisse is moving decisively toward abstraction. His work embodies the Fauvist principle that color need not serve reality, but can exist for its own sake.

This new freedom to use color independent of natural appearance is evident in André Derain’s London Bridge. From a high vantage point, Derain organizes the scene into broad, bold areas of color—greens, blues, reds, and yellows—applied in vibrant, unblended strokes. The perspective is tilted and somewhat distorted, and the sky glows with an unexpected rose hue. Rather than describing the scene realistically, Derain uses color to structure space, distinguishing foreground from background with expressive force.

Like other Fauves, Derain was less interested in subject matter as a source of emotional tension. Instead, he focused on the expressive power of color itself. Fauvist subjects remained traditional—landscapes, still lifes, interiors, and portraits—but their impact came from how they were painted, not what was depicted.

Paul Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work formed a crucial bridge between 19th-century Impressionism and 20th-century Cubism. Often referred to as the “father of modern art,” Cézanne revolutionized painting through his bold brushwork, innovative use of color, and radical approach to form and perspective. Rather than capturing fleeting moments like the Impressionists, he focused on the underlying structure of nature—seeking to "treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone."

His painting Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley exemplifies this structural approach. In it, natural forms are simplified into geometric shapes, and the spatial depth is flattened—ushering in a new way of seeing that would directly influence the development of Cubism.

While the Fauves drew inspiration from Van Gogh’s expressive use of color, the Cubists—most notably Picasso and Braque—looked to Cézanne. His analytical treatment of form and space became the foundation on which Cubism was built.

After completing Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Cubism evolved into a more formalistic movement—primarily concerned with rethinking and re-inventing pictorial structure and visual language. While Cubism is generally characterized by calm, intellectual analysis, Les Demoiselles stands apart for its unsettling, raw energy and erotic tension. Originally, Picasso intended to include two male figures among the group of nude women, reinforcing the scene’s brothel setting.

The painting shows the clear influence of Paul Cézanne in its flattening of space and reduction of form into angular planes. It also reveals the impact of African art, particularly in the stylized, mask-like faces of the figures on the right. Picasso was drawn to African sculpture for its bold abstraction and its ability to transcend mere visual appearance—being at once representational and anti-naturalistic.

Key innovations in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon include:

• Fractured planes: The figures are broken into sharp, angular shapes—a hallmark of early Cubism.

• Rejection of traditional space: Picasso dismantles the illusion of a unified, classical space in favor of a fragmented, dynamic one.

• Simultaneous vision: Rather than presenting a single fixed viewpoint, Picasso synthesizes multiple perspectives into a single composition, suggesting movement around the subject.

• Respect for the flat picture plane: Cubism sought to preserve the integrity of the canvas as a two-dimensional surface, while still exploring how to depict three-dimensional forms.

This painting marks a turning point not only in Picasso’s career but in the entire trajectory of modern art, serving as a radical break from Renaissance traditions.

When we compare these two works—The Portuguese by Braque and Ma Jolie by Picasso—we can clearly see that the artists were operating in near-perfect synchrony. Both paintings display a similar treatment of form and space: the subject is broken down into a complex arrangement of interlocking planes, and the human figure nearly dissolves into the faceted structure of the composition.

This phase of Cubism marked a radical rethinking of the nature of representation—turning away from illusionism and toward a new visual language that dissected reality and rebuilt it on the canvas. Though World War I would bring an end to their collaboration, the legacy of their partnership fundamentally changed the trajectory of modern art. 

Marcel Duchamp was one of the first artists to break away from Cubism in pursuit of a radically different approach to subject matter and expressive content. His early work shocked audiences and came to symbolize what some saw as the "madness" of modern art. In works like Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912), Duchamp combines a literal subject—a figure descending a staircase—with a highly abstract treatment. The figure is multiplied and fragmented into loosely organic, mechanical shapes that suggest motion across time and space.

Though the painting uses Cubist techniques such as geometric fragmentation and monochromatic tones, it is not a Cubist work in the traditional sense. Rather, Duchamp employed Cubist visual language to achieve a distinctly personal and expressive effect. His focus on movement—capturing multiple stages of action in a single image—aligns him with the Italian Futurists, who also adopted Cubist forms but emphasized energy, speed, and emotional dynamism.

• Cubists were concerned with creating a new, balanced spatial order—an intellectual exploration of form and structure.

• Futurists, by contrast, sought to capture motion and time, producing compositions charged with emotion and kinetic energy—often using similar formal devices as the Cubists, like overlapping planes and linear geometry.

Duchamp, while not officially a Futurist, bridges these two avant-garde movements by using Cubist methods to depict not stillness, but movement—marking a shift toward conceptual and expressive experimentation that would define much of 20th-century art.

Emil Nolde’s Crucifixion (1912) is the central and most emotionally charged panel in his nine-part series titled The Life of Christ. This series, painted in 1911–1912, includes works such as Holy Night, The Twelve-Year-Old Christ, The Three Magi, The Betrayal of Christ, Women at the Tomb, Ascension, Resurrection, and Doubting Thomas. Collectively, these panels narrate pivotal moments from the New Testament, forming a raw and deeply personal interpretation of the Christian story.

Unlike traditional depictions of Jesus that emphasize calm heroism or divine serenity, Nolde's Crucifixion confronts viewers with the raw fear, anguish, and physical suffering of Christ. The figures are crammed into a compressed, shallow space, amplifying the emotional claustrophobia. Their mask-like faces—rendered with exaggerated features and intense, wide eyes—evoke a sense of passion and torment, blurring the line between the sacred and the human.

The jarring color palette, particularly the sickly greens and blood reds, intensifies the grotesque and disturbing nature of the scene. These choices reflect Nolde’s expressionist aim: not to console, but to provoke—to elicit an emotional and psychological reaction that feels urgently modern and painfully human.

Even within a religious context, Nolde’s work diverges from the uplifting traditions of Christian art. His Crucifixion does not idealize suffering or present Christ as a triumphant martyr; instead, it unflinchingly portrays the horror and despair of the moment. In doing so, Nolde reshapes the visual narrative of Christ’s life into something deeply existential and reflective of early 20th-century anxieties.

While the Fauves inspired Nolde with their expressive use of color, his work is more psychologically driven. For Nolde and the Expressionists, subject matter—especially spiritual and emotional trauma—was a powerful vehicle for exploring the inner condition of humanity in an age of instability and uncertainty.

One of the most powerful contributions of German Expressionism was the revival of printmaking as a major art form, and few artists embodied this movement more than Käthe Kollwitz. Deeply empathetic and socially conscious, Kollwitz channeled her profound compassion for the suffering of humanity into raw, emotional graphic works. Her prints serve as striking social commentaries on the injustices and hardships faced by the working class.

Plowing (Die Pflüger) is the first etching in Kollwitz's series on the German Peasants’ War, a cycle of six prints created in 1906. Drawing on history, literature, memory, and imagination, Kollwitz depicted the brutal 1525 uprising in which the peasants—lacking land, rights, or economic security—rose against their feudal lords. Central to the narrative is the figure of "Black Anna," a woman who symbolically inspires rebellion.

In Plowing, Kollwitz shows the grim reality of rural labor: a peasant literally harnessed like an animal, pulling the plow himself. The composition is stark and forceful—rendered in bold, rough lines, stripped of decorative detail, yet rich in emotional weight. The peasant's suffering and dehumanization are palpable, reflecting Kollwitz's solidarity with the oppressed and her lifelong commitment to justice and dignity for the working class.

The complete series includes:

• Plowing – the harsh daily labor of peasants

• Raped – the violence inflicted by ruling powers

• Sharpening the Scythe – a growing sense of defiance

• Distribution of Weapons – preparation for revolt

• Outbreak (Revolt) – the uprising, with Black Anna leading

• Battlefield – the aftermath of violence

• The Prisoners – defeated but unbroken in spirit

Kollwitz’s friend Otto Nagel once said, “There is not a line of her work which fails to make its comment, which does not cry aloud and indict.” Her etchings not only document historical injustice, but also resonate universally with themes of oppression, resistance, and human dignity.

With Kollwitz’s deeply felt Expressionism, we now turn to a radically different response to war and social upheaval—the Dadaists, who met tragedy with absurdity, rebellion, and a whole new set of visual tools.

In 1915, Marcel Duchamp moved to New York and quickly became a leading figure in the New York Dada movement. By this time, he had begun to challenge the very definition and purpose of art, introducing the concept of the readymade—an ordinary object elevated to art through the artist's selection and intent.

His most provocative readymade was Fountain (1917), a porcelain urinal turned on its back, signed R. Mutt, and submitted anonymously to the Society of Independent Artists' exhibition. Though the show had promised to accept all entries, Fountain was rejected, igniting fierce debate about what qualifies as art.

The piece plays on both form and meaning—referencing the traditional motif of fountains in Western art, yet subverting it with a commonplace, industrial object. Duchamp’s act forced the art world to reconsider whether art must be crafted by hand, aesthetically pleasing, or even original.

Fountain relied on chance and found materials, emphasizing that creativity could lie in selection and context rather than manual skill. Though the original was lost, Fountain was immortalized in photographs by Alfred Stieglitz and Henri-Pierre Roché. The version now housed in many museums is one of 14 replicas made in the 1950s, signed and dated “R. Mutt 1917” by Duchamp himself.

Fountain is now considered one of the most influential works of 20th-century art—a turning point that paved the way for conceptual and contemporary practices.

Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory stands apart from many 20th-century modernist movements by rejecting abstraction in favor of meticulous, almost photographic realism. The painting’s precise technique recalls the fine detail of Northern Renaissance artists like Jan van Eyck or Vermeer, while its acidic greens and yellows evoke the unsettling tones of 19th-century Goya. The vast, desolate space seems to stretch into infinity, enhancing the work’s eerie atmosphere.

The painting’s fame comes largely from its strange juxtaposition of familiar objects—like watches and cliffs—with unnatural qualities and dreamlike distortions. The soft, melting watches have become iconic symbols of Surrealism, representing the distortion of time and reality within the unconscious mind.

The dreamlike effect is heightened by:

• The quiet, endless desert landscape

• The unnatural limpness of the clocks

• The inclusion of a mysterious, distorted head-like form in the foreground—often interpreted as a soft self-portrait of Dalí

• Ants swarming over a metal watch, suggesting decay and the breakdown of logical structure

In this surreal world, time appears to collapse, and physical laws no longer apply. Dalí invites us into a space that is at once hyper-realistic and irrational, where memory fades and melts away.

After World War II, the Surrealist movement was scattered—many artists fled occupied Europe and relocated to New York, where they continued to influence the next generation of American art movements, particularly Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.