Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionist artists reinvented abstract painting—and other media—forming a distinctly American style.

Inside:

Abstract Expressionism: A New Art for a New World
Abstract Expressionist Sculpture
The Processes and Materials of Abstract Expressionist Painting
The Sublime and the Spiritual

Advanced Placement Art History Exam

A Modern and Contemporary art study set for test-takers, teachers, and lifelong learners alike.

Conceptual Art

Discover how Conceptual artists used language, performance, and instructions to fuel creativity, and sought alternatives to institutional settings.

Inside:

Language and Art
Outside the Museum

Cubism

Explore how Cubist artists shattered conventions of representation and perspective.

Dada

Discover how Dada artists used chance, collaboration, and language as a catalyst for creativity.

Inside:

Artistic Collaboration
Chance Creations: Collage, Photomontage, and Assemblage
Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade
Word Play

Design

Discover the central role of design in everyday life.

Inside:

Chairs
Everyday Marvels
Plastic
Simple Machines

Expressionism

Amid the destruction of World War I, German and Austrian Expressionists responded to the anxiety of modern life.

Inside:

Expressionism and City Life
Expressionism and Nature
Expressionist Depictions of War
Expressionist Portraits

Fauvism

Meet the “wild beasts” of the early-20th-century art world.

Film

Discover the history and development of film, a merging of science, technology, business, and art, and one of the most widely experienced mediums.

Inside:

Advent of Cinema
Documentary and Propaganda
Experimentation in Film / The Avant-Garde
Experimentation with Sound

Investigating Identity

Discover how artists mine the concept of identity—and often challenge it—in their work.

Inside:

Constructing Gender
Intersecting Identities
The Body in Art

Maps, Borders, and Networks

Artists use maps to tell stories about themselves and their views of the world.

Media and Performance Art

See what happens when artists perform—live or on-camera—and incorporate themselves and their audience into their work.

Inside:

Expanded Choreography
Participation and Audience Involvement
Performing for the Camera
Performing Identities

Migration and Movement

Artists move around the world, shifting their identities, cultural traditions, and artistic techniques.

Minimalism

Explore the simplified forms and rich ideas behind Minimalist art.

Inside:

Constructing Space
Serial Forms and Repetition
The Materials of Minimalism

Photography

Explore the many different ways photography has been used to document and interpret the modern world.

Inside:

Photography and Public Image
Photography as Witness
Posed/Unposed
Sets, Stories, and Situations
The Photographic Record

Pop Art

Explore how Pop artists were inspired by—and made art directly from—consumer goods, mass media, and popular culture.

Inside:

Appropriation
Celebrity

Surrealism

In a revolution against a society ruled by rational thought, the Surrealists tapped into the “superior reality” of the subconscious.

Inside:

Surrealism and the Body
Surrealist Landscapes
Surrealist Objects and Assemblage
Tapping the Subconscious: Automatism and Dreams

What Is Modern Art?

Late-19th-century artists broke with tradition to create a Modern Art.

Inside:

Modern Landscapes
Modern Portraits
Painting Modern Life
Popular Culture
Rise of the Modern City