19th-20th Century : Sustaining Innovation
From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, under the influence of modern literature, music, psychology and sciences, a major change of art came in its negation of imitation and representation. From scientific studies, artists learned that colors and shapes perceived by the eyes were not fixed or constant. Colors and shapes are formed by light as well as the results of objective visual effects and subjective cognition, hence the appearances vary. With the invention of cameras, which replaced paintings in their capacities for faithful representation of nature, artists were forced to alter the way they viewed the world. They were also forced to switch from an objective reflection of concrete materialism to a subjective approach of the abstract spiritual world. Artists presented their beliefs, dreams, fears, and ideas through all types of forms, enriching the expressions of art and creating multifarious art works.