Music, Art, Literature Trends From impressionism to pop art, jazz to hip hop, science fiction to beat poetry, artistic, musical, and literary expressions have varied considerably between 1870 and 2005. The period between the end of the nineteenth century to the current day can be generally described as the modern and postmodern eras. The beginning of the modern era, during the final decades of the nineteenth century, coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Along with fascination with modern technology and optimism for the future came simultaneous disillusionment. However, modern technological advancements have made such widespread creativity possible. Social and political trends have also influenced creative endeavors, and vice-versa. Art, music, and literature are more accessible and more possible to create than they ever were in the past. The modern era has been characterized by an overall flourishing of the expressive arts, but some trends have a more lasting significance than others. For instance, the most significant artistic trends that have occurred between 1870 and the present day include impressionism, cubism, abstraction, art deco, poster, and pop art. The most significant musical trends of the modern era include blues, jazz, rock and roll, electronica, and hip hop. Finally, the most significant literary trends between 1870 and 2005 include post-colonialism, science fiction, beat poetry, and horror.

Important modern trends in the realm of the visual arts include impressionism, cubism, abstraction, and pop art. Impressionism was the first major movement in modern art. The range of colors and styles used in impressionist paintings diverged considerably from the more formal traditions of the past. Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Degas produced lively, colorful paintings that depicted more than just their subject matter but captured the mind state of the artist...

Impressionist color palates, subject matter, and painting styles influenced the visual art world for years to come. Moreover, the works of art produced by impressionists rank with some of the most famous paintings of all time. Cubism, popularized by Picasso and Braque, also made a huge stir in the visual arts community. Cubists dissected their subjects into their constituent parts and rearranged them. The results were distorted and unique portraits of people and objects. From cubism arose pure abstraction. For the first time, paintings did not depict recognizable objects, people, or places. Rather, color, line, and texture became more important on canvas. Abstraction might be the single most significant artistic development because it freed up the canvas for an infinite variety of artistic expression.
Art deco was another significant trend in the arts, emerging around the 1920s. However, art deco became important more in the realm of architecture than painting. Many art deco buildings still stand today, including New York City's Empire State Building, which is why the movement was so important. Finally, pop art became a significant artistic trend of the last century. Artists like Andy Warhol imbued their subject matter with a playful, colorful, fun quality that still characterizes much modern art. Like much modern art, pop art is immediately accessible and is thus a populist art form. Finally, poster art was a significant trend because since the early twentieth century, posters have become an important means of advertising as well as pure decoration. Because of the proliferation of consumer culture, poster art emerges as a relatively unheralded yet significant visual art form.

In the realm of music, the most significant trends to emerge during the past century include blues, jazz, rock and roll, electronica, and hip hop. In fact, many of these categories are intertwined and interrelated and in some instances, modern music defies classification altogether because of the creative freedom that characterizes the century. The blues became more than just a genre of music. In fact, the…