Artistic Vanguards

Each artistic movement of the avant-garde presented very diverse proposals mainly in terms of the aesthetics of the productions and the structuring principles that sometimes converged and sometimes diverged from each other. Thus, each group of artists reacted in various ways to the changes, denying the previous artistic trends.

The main artistic avant-gardes in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century were known as Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism.

Expressionism

Expressionism was an artistic movement that arose to oppose the objectivity of French Impressionism. So it had subjectivity as its characteristic. The movement originated in Germany in mid-1905 and lasted until 1930.

The movement's main idea was the concept of art as action.

Fauvism

The Fauvists were the first to break with the classical perspective that prevailed in the artistic field. In the early twentieth century, these young artists, inspired by the works of the post-impressionists, sought an art full of creative freedom, revealing their "wild" side. To this end, they used strong colors and simplified forms in their compositions.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is one of the greatest exponents of this movement. His work Joy of Living shows essential traits of the Fauvist aesthetic. The scene depicts the communion of people with nature and love (in sinuous movements of lines and limpid colors).

Cubism

The Cubist movement emerged in 1907, based on the studies and productions of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. The geometrization and abstraction of shapes are striking features of Cubist productions.

These artists sought to oppose the classical and Renaissance traditions.

Cubism has two phases:

- analytic (1907 to 1911): sought to emphasize form and line using monochromatic palettes and with the abstract treatment of space, presenting fragmented scenes that were connected through figures in different directions.

- Synthetic (1912): centered on the decomposition of the object for later reconstruction, so that the initial image became almost unrecognizable. 

Futurism

The Futurist movement emerged in 1909, with the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who published a text entitled "Futurist Manifesto" in the newspaper Le Figaro. Marinetti proposed that Italian artists should break free from classical standards and be reborn to modernity and the new, valuing the products of the Industrial Revolution.

The Futurists also defended the notion of art inserted in everyday life, being within everyone's reach. Artists also sought to bring to their works the color and energy resulting from movement and light. They studied science and new technological discoveries to use this knowledge in their works.

Dadaism

Between 1914 and 1945, the world went through two world wars that involved many nations, definitively transforming the modern world. Until the outbreak of the First World War, Europe lived a period of progress and scientific development. However, new types of weapons were produced, which caused death and destruction.

In 1916, in Zurich, Switzerland, Dadaism began. This artistic movement was formed by a group of writers, poets, and visual artists who questioned the supposed social progress that culminated in the First World War.

This group proposed protest art, a radical movement of contestation of the values of that time, using various channels: magazines, manifestos, literary publications, musical performances, and visual arts exhibitions.

Dadaism soon expanded to other important cities, such as New York, Barcelona, Paris, and Berlin. Its members gained visibility in the artistic field, becoming world-renowned figures.

Surrealism

This movement appeared in the early 1920s in Paris. And it was based on a literary style created by a group of poets, among whom André Breton, who published the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, stands out.

The Surrealists sought to understand what was beyond the reach of reason, such as dreams, chance, and the unexpected. These artists were interested in the free interpretation of psychoanalysis' discoveries about the existence of the unconscious. They wished to represent non-rational states and included the participation of chance in the elaboration of the works. To do this, these artists used strategies such as painting pictures in the dark, writing poems with several hands, etc.

Unlike what happened with other artistic movements of the avant-garde, the trajectory of Surrealism had continuity throughout art history, and its proposals are discussed and practiced around the world even today.