A Global Stage

During the 20th century the notions of modernity and progress, which the industrial and colonial West had disseminated across the planet, were called into question. The two World Wars, the financial crisis of 1929 and many instances of decolonisation challenged a great number of certainties. Artistic creation experienced constant reinvention, ruptures and radical new directions. Echoing the remarkable pace of modern life, the rapid succession of artistic movements constantly opened new perspectives. The boundaries of art were continually redefined, extended and in constant transformation. During the first half of the century, the avant-garde movements in Paris and elsewhere in Europe attracted artists from all over the world. During the 1950s and 1960s, the growing influence in the United States of Abstract Expressionism, the birth of Pop Art in Great Britain, then, in the 1980s, the international spread of Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Performance Art and Video Art coincided with the globalisation of the art world.