Early 20th Century Avant-Garde: From Rebellion to Abstraction




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Journey into the vibrant world of early 20th century art and witness the birth of abstraction. This transformative period reshaped the cultural landscape, from the bold colors of Fauvism, the fractured forms of Cubism, to the dreamlike realms of Surrealism. Each session focuses on the movements’ leading artists including Matisse, Kandinsky, Picasso, Mondrian, Duchamp, and Dali. We will explore their aesthetic goals and the social and cultural currents that influenced them.

Lauren Weingarden
Lauren Weingarden is professor emerita of art history at Florida State University. Her research explores the intersections of literature and visual art in 19th-century culture, with a focus on the American architect Louis Sullivan and French figures such as Charles Baudelaire and Édouard Manet. She has published extensively on these subjects and developed an interdisciplinary, embodied aesthetic model that invites viewers to re-experience artists’ responses to modernity’s fragmentation and the fleeting qualities of nature, a perspective that shapes her teaching on Impressionism.

Thursday, October 8 through November 12
  • 10/8/2026
  • 10/15/2026
  • 10/22/2026
  • 10/29/2026
  • 11/5/2026
  • 11/12/2026
4pm–5:30pm
https://vimeo.com/1182083839?fl=ml&fe=ec

Class Details

6 Session(s)
Weekly - Thu

Location
Virtual - Any Location

Instructor
Multiple

Tuition:  $73.00

Email olli@northwestern.edu for more information. Send to Friend »

Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s)
10/8/2026 - 11/12/2026 Weekly - Thu 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM N/A, Virtual - Any Location  Map Matt Eckstein  ; Ashley Walter 

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