There is no denying the power of a work of art, which can evoke certain feelings or even manipulate the viewer's emotions beyond his control.
But there are also works that rattle the very infrastructure of art and the idea of what it means to create. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they shape our history.
We asked the experts at Paddle8, an online art auction house that hosts both themed and benefit sales, to help us curate a list of some of the most revolutionary artwork of all time. Since the complete history of art is so vast, we limited their selections to the last 200 years or so — the relatively recent Modern and Contemporary eras.
"The Third of May" by Francisco Goya (1808)
"Goya's depiction of the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of 1808 was a groundbreaking image of the horrors of war,"Paddle8's experts said. Goya broke out from other artists of his day by showing an unheroic scene in the conflict, with the rebels in a passive surrender, rather than a glorifying charge.
"Olympia" by Edouard Manet (1863)
"The frank sexuality and direct stare of Manet's subject, a prostitute, turned the idea of the 'male gaze' on its head," said Paddle8. "No longer was a reclining nude available only for the pleasure of the viewer; she was confronting him head on." Manet also met resistance based on the model he chose to paint. Unlike the ideal "Venus" of the time — soft, round, and glowing — this model was thinner, and presented in harsher lighting.
"The Bathers" by Paul Cezanne (1889–1905)
"The grandfather of Cubism, Cezanne intentionally painted works that were not easy to interpret or appealing to the fashion of the time," said Paddle8. "With 'The Bathers,' he created a work that was both timeless and abstract." It was his goal to draw artists away from "fad" styles of painting that he thought wouldn't last.
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