The style difference between modern art and contemporary art begins with the purpose of each period.

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Understanding the modern art styles

Modern art broke away from academic tradition. Its major movements changed how artists used colour, form, perspective, subject matter and material.

Impressionism loosened the brushstroke and brought attention to light, as in Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise from 1872. Fauvism pushed colour away from natural appearance, visible in Henri Matisse’s bold use of red, blue, green and orange. Cubism fractured objects into multiple viewpoints, as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque did in the early twentieth century. Surrealism used dream logic and the unconscious, seen in René Magritte’s strange, precise images and Salvador Dalí’s melting forms.

Modern art carries the visual language of multiple movements. Even when the work looks different, it belongs to a period where artists were trying to reinvent painting, sculpture, design, photography and architecture.

Once you become familiar with the core theme and aesthetic of each movement, it's easy to recognise those patterns and get a sense of what wider movement an artwork ties into.

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The complexity of contemporary art

Contemporary art has no single visual language. Its style is harder to define because it is shaped by theme, context and the artist’s own perspective, rather than one shared movement.

A contemporary artist might use painting, video, installation, performance, digital tools, found objects, photography, sound, textiles, code, or printmaking.

For buyers, it's helpful to understand this distinction:

modern art is linked to pushing the boundaries of what art could be, while contemporary art reflects on the Zeitgeist and gives form to the human experience of the present times.

In David Roman’s art, the theme comes before the style. He explores inner transformation through figures from myth and symbolism, combining ancient gilding techniques with modern materials. The Alchemist, Sapphire Red Edition, shown above, is a limited edition that recreates the raised relief of the original and is finished with imitation gold leaf.