Modern Art can be confounding precisely because it challenges traditional artistic practices and aesthetic categories. Nevertheless, the immense surge of creative energy unleashed by the innovative techniques and radical aims of the avant-garde are still not exhausted. In this course we examine the development of modern art from its emergence in the 19th century to its dominance in the 20th century. Emphasis will be placed on key artists and movements from the first half of the 20th century responsible for the most distinctive features and claims of the avant-garde. We will also attend to the theoretical implications of these claims for understanding the meaning(s) of artistic modernism.