Modern art, artist of the mid-15th century looked upon their art as modern. They chose new subjects, materials, techniques that signaled a radical change from a medieval past.
This era has a many styles of their art. Neoclassicism in art refers to the predominant Western movement that originated in Rome in the 18th century; it is characterized mainly as a reaction against the excessive grandiose of the Baroque era and the ornateness of the late Rococo school. Romanticism is an artistic style and movement in the 18th and 19th centuries that spread across Europe and later to the United States. Realism in the arts refers to the mid-19th century Realist movement which started in France and initially began as a reaction against Romanticism in which subjects were treated idealistically, the Realists tended to discard theatrical drama and classical forms of art to depict commonplace or realistic themes, they wanted to represent the subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements. Impressionism is an artistic movement and style originating in France in the 19th century with a group of Paris-based artists. It is characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color.

   Pictorialism is the name given to an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the 19th and 20th centuries. Pictorialism refers to a style in which the photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of creating an image rather than simply recording it. Typically, a pictorial photograph appears to lack a sharp focus, is printed in one or more colors other than black-and-white (ranging from warm brown to deep blue), and may have other manipulation of the surface. For the Pictorialist, a photograph, like a painting, drawing or engraving, was a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewers realm of imagination. Pure Photography or Straight Photography refers to the term that emerged in the 1880's to mean simply an unmanipulated photographic print, in opposition to the soft focus painterly images of the Pictorialist photographers. Pure/Straight photographers attempted to depict a scene as realistically and objectively as permitted by the medium, renouncing the use of manipulation. This emphasis on the unmanipulated silver print dominated modernist photographic aesthetics into the 1970's. It is also a type of picture that has a side effect but tells the truth in general. Post-Impressionism refers to the artistic movement that emerged in France in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The movement represented both an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of that style’s inherent limitations. Though most of them began as Impressionists, each of them abandoned the style; however, to form his/her own highly personal art. 

   Expressionism is a style and movement which first surfaced in art in the early 20th century. It refers to the style that attempts to depict not the objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in the artist. Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the 20th century, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, and spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements. Art Nouveau is an artistic style and movement prominent in western Europe and the US from about 1890 until the World War I. It is considered as a total art style embracing architecture, graphic art, interior design, and most of the decorative arts including jewelry, furniture, textile, household silver and other utensils and lighting, as well as fine arts. It is characterized by intricate linear designs and flowing curves based on natural forms, and is also considered as a reaction against the French academic art of the 19th century. English uses the French term Art Nouveau, which translates to New Art, but the international style has many different names in other countries, such as: Jugendstil (Deutsche) and Modernista (Spanish). Their subject matters are usually organic imagery (leaves, stems, flowers, etc., but also such things as waves, fire, and flowing hair of women) to non-objective design. Sometimes, particularly within the organic approach, there is an erotic undertone.