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10 Famous Early Modern Artists

Although modern architecture is widely believed to have come about at the end of the 19th century, the very first pieces of modern artwork can be found much earlier.

Modern art largely refers to artistic pieces created during the period roughly between the 1860s to the end of the 1970s, and marks the philosophy and style of the art typical of the time. To be more exact, 1863 is commonly said to mark the start of the era, and it was the year that Édouard Manet showcased his painting Le déjeuner sur l’herbe at the Salon des Refusés, Paris.

 

10 Famous Early Modern Artists:

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France and is deemed to be one of the most important and influential artists of all time.

 

10 Famous Early Modern Artists: Minotaure aveugle guide par use Fillette, III by Pablo Picasso
Minotaure aveugle guide par use Fillette, III, 1934, Pablo Picasso

 

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, The Scream, has become one of the iconic images of world art. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inheriting a mental condition that ran in the family.

10 Famous Early Modern Artists: Løsrivelse II / Separation II W78 by Edvard Munch
Løsrivelse II, 1896, Edvard Munch

 

Henri Matisse

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.

10 Famous Early Modern Artists: Le Bonnet Fleuri by Henri Matisse
Le Bonnet Fleuri, 1929, Henri Matisse

 

 

Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall was a French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

10 Famous Early Modern Artists: Rêve Familiar by Marc Chagall
Rêve Familiar, 1969, Marc Chagall

 

 

Camille Pissarro

A Peaceful Sunday In The Woods by Camille Pissarro
A Peaceful Sunday In The Woods, 1891, Camille Pissarro

 

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a German expressionist painter and printmaker; he was one of the four founders of the artist group Die Brücke.

Haarflechtende by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Haarflechtende, 1920, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

 

Georges Braque

Georges Braque was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he played in the development of Cubism.

L’oiseau et son ombre lll by Georges Braque

 

 

Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism. Toward the end of his life, he spent ten years in French Polynesia.

Te Arii Vahine – Opoi by Paul Gauguin
Te Arii Vahine – Opoi, 1898, Paul Gauguin

 

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art, possibly after Hilma af Klint. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school.

 

Kleine Welten Ii (little Worlds Ii) by Wassily Kandinsky
Kleine Welten II, 1922, Wassily Kandinsky

 

Early Modern Artists

View more early modern artists and prints here.