The manner in which Cezanne abstractly modulated color in his paintings was seminal to the controversial cubist style. What is more, Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon simplified previous endeavors in terms of structure by employing a savage two-dimensional angularity, and as such was exponential for early modern art. Modernist painting, in Clement Greenberg's words, "used art to call attention to art" (193) as opposed to Realism's alleged concealment of art. Formerly inferred drawbacks attached to the limits imposed by the medium of painting, such as the plain surface, the pigment's properties or the shape of the support, were brought to light in modernism and even considered positive elements (Greenberg 195). To list various embodiments of the modern newly found openness and embracing of factors that used to be regarded as glitch, Piet Mondrian's minimalist Composition...

In addition, it may be asserted that modernist painting did not simply shun figurative representation as much as it abandoned, in principle, "the representation of the kind of space that recognizable objects can inhabit" (Greenberg 198).
Overall, Impressionism, Realism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism and the entire vast spectrum of Modern styles that ensued are altogether defined as pioneer art forms which drastically upended or sought to improve previous European traditions. In conclusion, the link that can be traced throughout these currents serves as testimony for visual art's creative continuity.

Reference

Greenberg, Clement. Modernist painting. Art and…