Modernism is an art movement characterized by the departure from tradition and the deliberate use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Modernism refers to this period's interest in the following:

∙ A complete rejection of naturalistic color

∙ A use of choppy, quick, intuitive and overt brushstrokes

∙ Experiment with new types of paints, pigments and unorthodox materials

∙ A requirement that the audience take a more active role as a judge and interpreter

∙ Expressing feelings, ideas, fantasies, and dreams instead of the visual world we otherwise see

∙ Deliberate creation of abstractions, rather than representing what is real and easily perceivable

∙ The acceptance of line, form, color, and the process of creating as valid subject matter by themselves