Realism represents figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life, and is generally restricted to a movement that began in the mid-19th century in reaction to the highly subjective approach of romanticism. Realism is concerned directly with what is absorbed by the senses. American realist paintings include the honest, matter-of-fact portraits by Thomas Eakans, William Sidney Mount. Eakins' The Gross Clinic combined sharp realism- a depiction of an operation in progress with psychological acuity in the portrayal of the surgeon Doctor Gross is realism at it's finest.

Impressionism is a movement in painting that originated in France in the 19th century. Impressionist painters were considered radical in their time because they broke many of the rules of picture-making set by earlier generations. They found many of their subjects in life around them rather than in history, which was the accepted source of subject matter. Instead of paintin

Cubism is an art form derived from modernism and said to be invented by Pablo Picasso who invented a new style of painting, focusing mainly on line rather than color. Picassos' art changed radically around 1907, when he decided to incorporate some stylistic elements of African sculpture into his painting. Picassos' Les Demoiselles D'Arignon does violence to the human form by means of radical simplifications, arbitrary and harsh color combinations, and extreme distortions of human anatomy and proportions. The paintings space, moreover, does not conform to the logic of perspective, the traditional system for portraying depth in a picture, and is so fragmented that it is difficult to read clearly.

Finally, Surrealism, which is inspired by writings of Freud, seeks ways of accessing the unconscious mind. An example of the strategy is Dalis' The Persistence of Mercury . In this painting, pocket watches hang limply from a dead branch, while insects, a tabletop, and a distorted face lie in a barren landscape that leads back to a seashore and cliffs. The merging of these conflicting elements suggests an alternative, or sur-reality, as the movements name implies.

g an ideal of beauty that earlier artists had defined, the impressionists tried to depict what they saw at a given moment, capturing a fresh, original vision that was hard for some to accept as beautiful. They often painted outdoors, rather

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