This course examines the development of modern art in Europe and the United States, focusing on the period between 1880 and 1950. Starting with Post-Impressionism, we trace the key movements in modern art (including Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism), and consider some of the more traditional forms against which they defined themselves. In the process, we seek to understand how the terms ‘modern,’ ‘modernist,’ and ‘avant-garde’ came to be applied to art and artists, and to establish what art historians and cultural critics mean when they use them.