The 20th century was marked by great social, political, economic changes and, simultaneously, in the artistic world, the expansion of the concept of art.In the 1960s, environmental and ecological concerns began to emerge in the field of arts, with artists questioning, in their works, our own survival and the consequences of human action on natural resources.Bordalo II, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Thomas Hirschhorn produce works of art that transmit and provoke a transformation in society.Do artists believe they are changing the world through their artistic actions? Find out in this article.

After the Second World War, a new expression emerged in the art world, developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. In the midst of the cold war, Jackson Pollock's works expressed the idea of freedom that the United States intended to communicate to the rest of the world. Thus, this movement was embraced due to its impression of spontaneity and as a way to “fight” Russian figurative art. For the artists, this movement, characterized by spontaneous gestural brushstrokes, was a way of expressing their emotions in an abstract way, as the name implies.

The early impressionists astounded art lovers by pushing against the grain of academic painting rules. Following the lead of painters such as Eugène Delacroix and JMW Turner, the Impressionists created paintings where color took precedence over lines and contours. The free strokes of artists such as Monet or Degas have changed the history of art ever since. Get to know the fantastic story of this movement that changed our view on the principles of art.

In the second part of the 20th century, we see the explosion of street art or urban art, as a way of expressing and communicating a message or brand through images, illustrations or symbols in public space.The practice of graffiti grew, initially in New York, but quickly spread firmly in other contemporary cities, thus challenging the prevailing canons of artistic practices. Find out in this article which were the two Portuguese artists who stood out in this field.