As the years are going by, people continue to improve in every facet of their lives; they improve in technology and the view of life. Technology for one has never stopped improving, neither have people stopped improving in their thinking and understanding of life and the natural world around.
Just as is true of we humans, art has also taken some unique steps, artists develop better, unique and even more realistic ways of expressing feelings and ways of sending messages with their art. But what does modern mean as a word? Modern means a style or technique of doing things at a particular period of time; it can also mean the style at which people do things at a certain time. When we have been able to understand that modern art is any kind of artwork that comes at a specific period of time, we will come to see that even our forefathers didn’t think they were living in a less civilized world, that even they once lived in a modern time and the arts of their days were modern to them. Living in a more modern world is something every generation believes they are, so we shouldn’t be surprised if our descendants say we are living in a less civilized world, or when artists of the future say our styles and techniques are outdated.
Though modern arts has an even dipper and more diverse meaning, our main interest is going to rest on the artworks of our day, since in this context we are talking of the time we are living in. There are some artworks that has been thrown aside in the past as new artists are springing up with new ideas, and techniques of arts, and although many have been damaged, lost and devalued, there are some artworks that have remained relevant not only in the market, but also in the art world. These few artworks have managed to remained untouchable and relevant to our modern art lovers; although this paintings are hundreds, sometime thousands of years old, although the artists that have credit for the work are long dead, these artworks have not only carved out a niche for themselves, they have also continued to rise in value and they continue to command an increase in demand. All artworks that have managed to stay relevant today, irrespective of the times of production can also be classified as modern artworks; why that conclusion? Remember we said that what makes something modern is about the things, styles and techniques that are still important to a set of people at a particular period of time, so if these paintings have managed to stay relevant after one, two or even three generations, they are still modern. Those artworks that end up being discarded after some years stopped being modern, and the generation of that time only saw it as irrelevant.
Artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Paul Ce Zanne, Paul Gangnim, Georges Seurat, Henri De Toulous Lantrec and Andre Derain are artists that have been very influential and essential to the development of arts today; in fact, they are seen as the fathers of modern arts. Although most of the aforementioned men have died for long, their artworks still remain respected and relevant, and although their paintings are many years old, some even dating back to the 1800s, their paintings still look amazing and the worth of these paintings are always on an increase.
The strands of thoughts that lead to modern art can be traced back to the early 17th century, a time when people had the privilege of seeing and creating arts, then there were lots of arguments on which technique and light is best in representing arts, and it was decided that all arts should be reflected in a realistic and natural light for the easy comprehension of people. Those thoughts and believes were set in motion by the aforementioned men, and that has been the guiding light for artists of our day.