Mid-Century Modern Art

What you know as today’s modern art wouldn’t be what it is without Mid-Century Modern art. Staying true to its title, this zany style was born in the 1940s and remained prominent until the 1960s, but it truly was the start of the movement to change the face of art, as we knew it. Previously, art was all about realism. You had to take what you saw in front of you and paint it exactly as it appeared. It wasn’t until this time that art became about expression and intrigue.

For example, close-up images of nature might not have been titled “art” before, but Mid-Century Modern designs have a different idea. David Gray’s “Four Reeds” is a tight shot of four sticks floating in water and “Stacking Stones 2 Teal” by Sandro De Carvalho is a stack of four smooth stones. Before this movement, artists might have scoffed at these images, but the open-mindedness that really took off in the middle of the 1900s helped art become something totally new.