The broad term modernism refers to artistic production beginning in the late nineteenth century that broke with the past and reflected the industrialization, urbanization, and social change of the future. The pioneering French painter Édouard Manet is considered an early proponent of modernism. In the 1860s, he broke with traditional subjects for—drawing on a tradition of depictions of reclining nude women, and in particular Titian’s Venus of Urbino of 1538, Manet painted a confident Parisian prostitute attended by a fully clothed maid in his shocking 1865 painting Olympia. In these early days of modernism, artists like Manet and, later, the Impressionists, created work in opposition to the ideals of the Salon. The Salon de Paris was a competitive annual exhibition held by the École des Beaux Arts, a traditional academic art school in Paris. Modernists challenged both the values of the Salon, and the subjects—often from history and mythology—that it championed.

Another key event in the history of modernism is Picasso’s creation of his 1906 masterpiece The Demoiselles d’Avignon. Building on the innovations of important artists like Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, Picasso created a completely flattened picture plane in which he presented five prostitutes. Like Olympia before them, these women confronted the viewer. Importantly, Picasso’s work drew inspiration from African masks and ancient Iberian art, showing the beginnings of a kind of globalized art. Modernism continued to develop into the twentieth century, including parallel movements in music, literature, and architecture. Many of the pivotal artistic movements of the century, including Futurism, Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism, are considered modernist in nature.