In this blog post, I’ll explore the evolution from Impressionism to contemporary art—and its significance—through the works I encountered at the Basel City Art Museum.

A Start Trapped in Impressionism

When I first visited the museum, the works I encountered were mostly from the Post-Impressionist movement. Since I was already familiar with painters like Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Monet from my textbooks, I naturally gravitated toward their works, while other periods seemed difficult to grasp. Contemporary art, in particular, looked like art from another world—works that were praised as masterpieces simply for drawing a line or dotting a few spots on a canvas.

A Turning Point at the Kunstmuseum Basel

During a trip to Europe over my freshman winter break in college, I happened to stop by the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland when I had some free time, and there I found a new clue to understanding art. Basel is a city with a high concentration of museums and a wealth of exhibits, attracting many artists; thanks to this, I was able to see a relatively large number of early Cubist works. The works I encountered there illustrated the transition from Post-Impressionism to modern art.

The Influence of Matisse and the Emergence of Cubism

Toward the end of the Late Impressionist period, Henri Matisse presented paintings that featured extreme color contrasts within his subjects. For example, in portraits, he used complementary colors in the shadow areas instead of dark hues; these strong color contrasts created the impression that different subjects were juxtaposed. Matisse’s experiments served as a new starting point for young painters of the time, and artists—including Picasso—began to explore their own unique approaches based on his work.

Picasso’s Early Experiments: ‘Man, Woman and Child’

The first work I encountered at the Kunstmuseum Basel was ‘Man, Woman and Child’, one of Picasso’s early Cubist works. At first, I didn’t even realize it was by Picasso, as it felt as though Matisse’s style had been rendered in black and white. A closer look at this work reveals that Picasso did not embark directly on Cubism but went through a process of deep contemplation and experimentation. It becomes clear that he sought to explore a new form of three-dimensionality by moving away from Matisse-style color contrasts and deconstructing the flatness of the subject, dividing the face and body into different perspectives.

Braque’s “Violin and Pitcher” and Analytical Cubism

As you walk through the museum, you encounter even more fragmented compositions. Georges Braque’s “Violin and Pitcher” is a work that clearly embodies this spirit of experimentation. Braque seems to have prioritized fragmenting the subject rather than depicting it as it is. The paintings of this period are sometimes referred to as “Analytical Cubism,” characterized by a strong emphasis on scientifically analyzing forms through decomposition rather than on aesthetic expression. In the process of reconstructing the violin and pitcher in three dimensions, their essential forms fade into the background; the fragments serve to harmonize the overall color scheme, and the fragmentation itself appears to be the goal.

The Fruits of Cubism: Choices in Picasso’s Work

After passing through the early Cubist exhibition and ascending to the third floor, visitors encounter the results of these experiments. Picasso’s ‘Women on the Banks of the Seine’ is a product of a period when Cubism was nearly fully developed; it is a Cubist reinterpretation of Gustave Courbet’s original work. Picasso reconstructs the original’s erotic image of a reclining woman from multiple perspectives, further emphasizing its seductive elements. Parts such as the hands and breasts are highlighted, and the gaze becomes more provocative, leaving a strong impression. This work clearly demonstrates that what is crucial in Cubism is the choice of how much to fragment the subject to express it effectively, and which characteristics to extract from each fragment.

Paul Klee’s Color Experiments: “Senecio”

Paul Klee’s “Senecio,” located near the exit of the museum, also left a deep impression. With the attitude that “color and I have become one,” Klee sought to introduce novelty into traditional painting through color. His attempt to fragment the subject—much like Cubism—but to express each part using only color rather than lines was an application of the Fauvist sense of color to Cubism. By abandoning lines and revealing each fragment through color alone, the forms became more abstract, and this approach serves as a bridge leading to modern art.

The Similarities Between Scientific Research and Artistic Experimentation

The process by which new research emerges in science resembles the process by which new styles emerge in art. When studying physics, the transition from Newtonian mechanics to quantum mechanics may initially seem counterintuitive, but a look at history reveals that many people arrived at these conclusions step by step through experimentation and reflection. Similarly, modern art is not the result of a sudden, instantaneous shift, but rather the accumulation of experiments and deliberations by numerous artists. As you trace the process behind each work in Basel, its meaning becomes clearer.

A New Perspective on Interpreting Art

When encountering a work of art, it’s common to first learn “who painted it,” while opportunities to understand the background—why it was painted that way—are rare. This is especially true for contemporary art, where the background and context are often difficult to grasp. However, just like scholars, artists are also conscious of the styles that were in vogue at the time and strive to carve out their own distinctiveness within them. When appreciating a work, if you reflect on the conventions of that era and the artist’s struggles—and ask yourself, “How would I have approached this differently at that time?”—contemporary art will feel much more accessible.