Breaking the Rules: What Is Modernism?

Imagine you are a painter in Paris in 1900. For centuries, artists have followed strict rules: paint things as they really look, use perspective correctly, mix colours carefully to copy nature. Every great academy of art judges your work against these standards. Then a new idea begins to spread — what if those rules are wrong? What if art doesn't have to look 'real' at all? Before we explore Modernism, think about this: why might artists who lived through rapid industrialisation, world wars, and huge scientific discoveries feel that old artistic rules no longer made sense?