modern art

American  

noun

1. art that was produced in the late 1860s through the 1970s and that rejected traditionally accepted forms and emphasized individual experimentation and sensibility.

---

Etymology

Origin of modern art

First recorded in 1800–10, for an earlier sense

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

modern art

In the 1930s and 1940s, postrevolutionary Mexico emerged as both an incubator of modern art and haven for European refugees, political exiles and other expats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

The album is experimental, merging modern art with Romanticism.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

Hofmann personally experienced the early modern art movements of Fauvism and Cubism in Paris, which gave his teaching a present-at-the-creation credibility.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

Many modern art historians, such as Dr Bendor Grosvenor, accept the label on this drawing is correct and that it is a surviving contemporary likeness of her.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

He’s so frustrated with his bosses, who won't let him sell modern art in the gallery.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman