This article refers to the following works: Olympia. Edouard Manet. 1863. Oil on canvas. H.130; L.190 cm. Paris, Musée d'OrsaySelf-portrait. Rembrandt. 1660. Oil on canvas. 31.61 x 26.5 centimetres. Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gaugin. Vincent van Gogh. 1888. Oil on canvas. 60.5×49.4 cm. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard UniversityPieta. Anabale Carricci. 1600. Oil on canvas. 149×156 centimetres. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.Woman with dead child. Kathe Kollowitz. 1903. Attack. 39 x 48 cm. To the casual viewer, modern art is often shocking, entertaining, indecipherable, and unnerving because art has always been understood in terms of traditional representation. However, in the early 19th century, European artists began to rebel against the institution of classical art. To achieve success as an artist in Europe thus far, acceptance by the Royal Academies of Art was essential (Rosenfeld 2000). The approved style was that of classical antiquity which depicted idealized historical, mythological and religious scenes and since the Academies controlled official patronage for artists, they set the rules for standards of “beauty” in art (Rosenfeld 2000). However, with the advent of modernity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, art theory evolved. Modernity in this period was characterized by rapid growth of industry and technology in cities, which meant substantial social and economic innovation across Europe. Feelings of anxiety and instability accompanied this rapid transformation (Sturken and Cartwright 2009, 449) and led to self-conscious awareness in both artists and consumers. The changes were so strong that artists began to reinterpret traditional subjects to reflect this new modern era. Ultimately, modern artists sought truth rather than beauty, a concept that encompassed both the physicality of painting as a medium, and the artist's sense of self, in an attempt to create “pure” art (Greenberg). Academic art strove to overcome the limitations of painting as a medium; surface flatness, canvas structure, and paint pigment properties (Kleiner 2009, 822), to create illusions of space and aesthetics. Modern artists have responded by emphasizing the same properties to communicate original insights and observations. However, the popular idea that Modernism was a...... medium of paper......3857?accountid=10382 (accessed 4 February 2015)Figure 2. Olympia. Edouard Manet. 1863. Oil on canvas. H.130; L.190 cm. Paris, Musée d'Orsay offered to the French State by public subscription initiated by Claude Monet, 1890© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski. Reproduced from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/olympia_a.html (accessed 4 February 2015). Figure 3. Self-portrait. Rembrandt. 1660. Oil on canvas. 31.61 x 26.5 centimetres. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. http://totallyhistory.com/self-ritratto-altman/ (accessed 4 February 2015) Figure 4. Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gaugin. Vincent van Gogh. 1888. Oil on canvas. 60.5×49.4 cm. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/self/gogh.self-gauguin.jpg (accessed 4 February 2015)Figure 5. Pietà. Anabale Carricci. 1600. Oil on canvas. 149×156 cm. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/annibale-carracci/pieta-1600 (accessed 4 February 2015) Figure 6. Woman with dead child. Kathe Kollowitz. 1903. Attack. 39×48 cm. oj0 http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs/detail/program_id/204 (visited February 4, 2015)