A Modern World, 1900–1945

In response to a rapidly changing world, modernism exploded onto the world stage during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Artists rejected Academic traditions and embraced expressive brushwork, bold colors, and abstraction. Many modernists applied these new styles and approaches to centuries-old subject matter of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. A recent gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is a painting by Henri Matisse. View the rest of the collection of modern paintings and works on paper by Albert André, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Jean Eve, André Lhote, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Maurice Utrillo, Suzanne Valadon, and Kees van Dongen in Appendix II.