Modernism was a broad artistic movement of the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, uniting currents that challenged academic tradition: Post-Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Art Deco. Modernist artists questioned the very purpose of art — no longer a mirror of the world, it became a space for subjective experience, formal experiment, and social statement. Gauguin, Munch, Modigliani, Schiele, Picasso, Hopper — each discovered a distinct language that defines the 20th century.