Henri Matisse, The Woman with a Hat, 1905, oil on canvas. Matisse was considered the leader of the Fauves, Matisse used bright colours, moving away from the norm of realist colours and expressions of the time. He was often criticised for being too unrealistic and were ridiculed as this style of painting had not necessarily been seen before and thus the public were not used to it, or could not see beyond the colours and brushstrokes into the passion and energy brought by said colours.

La Rencontre ou Bonjour M. Courbet Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) 1854 Huile sur toile Montpellier Agglomération, musée Fabre Don d'Alfred Bruyas, 1868 Exposition "Bohèmes" au Grand Palais, Galeries nationales www.grandpalais.fr/grandformat/exposition/bohemes/

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, oil on canvas. This was part of the surrealist movement, who "sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination", which takes an entirely different stance to other eras and movements that focused on the 'now' and painting what was in front of them. By painting what is seen in the subconscious, it delivers a whole new aspect toward painting and art, accessing innovative and thought provoking ways of viewing art.

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), 1912, Oil on canvas. This painting was considered an "aggregation of avant-garde concerns" that pulled together different avant garde themes and styles to produce a movement in its own, that shows all of these other, arguable smaller ideas. It was often mocked and questioned due to the seemingly chaotic style and appearance as this was a style that had not been considered as 'serious' or art at all.

Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam!, 1962, Acrylic paint and oil paint on canvas. Lichtenstein was one of the first artists to incorporate high and low culture into his pieces, possibly to thus appeal to a wider audiences than most. By using this comic book style of painting, it allowed him to create "highly emotional subject matter" in a new, unique way.

George Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884, oil on canvas. Seurat was the first artist to use 'Pointillism' - a new style of painting using dots instead of brush strokes. However, critics said he was "posturing and artificiality of modern Parisian society." which may have been said due to the unrealistic style of painting

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907, oil on canvas. This piece is seen as Picasso's first step towards the "new Cubist style." Cubism was a brand new way of painting portraits and figures, focusing on making them 2D and flat, rather than 3D and realistic. He also demonstrated a new way of showing the highly popular odalisque woman but in a way that was not considered 'pleasing to the eye' as they were at the time.

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915, oil on linen. This piece was deemed to be the first painting to be made that "was not of something". This arguably lead to a whole new era of pieces making it extremely avant-garde of its time.

Hilde De Decker, Harvest Jewellery, Collection No 1961, 2011. This artist makes jewellery involving fruits and vegetables. Not only this, but she often adjusts the metalwork so it sits correctly and moulds to the fruit/vegetable as it grows and forms. This is a brand new way of exploiting the uses of vegetables within art but also providing new ways of defining art and arguably beauty in pieces that may not have been deemed 'Art' previously.

Broom: An International Magazine of the Arts Various authors, published Rome; London: Harold A. Loeb. Vol 1 published 1921, Vol 2 published 1921/2, Vol 3 published 1922, Vol 4 published 1923 Contains the work of American artists in Italy, brought forward ideas of Italian Futurism and new avant-garde ideas. Due to the style in which said ideas are presented to an audience, it may have been avant-garde and innovative as they may not have seen these ideas all brought together before.

Michel Larinov, Nocturne, 1914, oil on canvas. Larinov and his partner Natalya Goncharova started the movement Rayonism in Russia in 1912, it is similar to Futurism in Italy. It largely uses light and its effects on landscapes and objects. This piece is highly avant-garde as it shows the emergence of a new art movement, the way the brushstrokes were made to present this subject had not necessarily been seen before.

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red, 1942, oil on canvas. This piece shows the introduction of the De Stijl (neoplasticism) movement, which focused on the use of straight lines and primary colours to create art which Monderain believed that "this art reflected a greater, universal truth beyond everyday appearance." This shows not only a new way of painting, but that this painting possibly lead to a new way of thinking and seeing life around us.

Explore the artists and artworks of our time at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Graham Seton, The W Plan, 1936, London: Penguin Books. This was a time of mass publication especially for penguin books who went on to use cheap paper to make it cheaply produced and widely available to those who wanted a copy of their publishing. This was a highly modernist way of publishing and the cover(s) also gave a more modern feel. It shows the way in which technology has been used in a way to speed up the production of an object as well as making them aesthetically pleasing.

The Earl of Birkenhead The World in 2030AD. Published London: Hodder and Stoughton 1930. Contained brand new ideas of how life would be in the future that contains things such as nuclear energy. Also contains what would be deemed as modern art drawings and sketches. This piece is avant-garde not for its looks but for the information contained inside.

Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises, 1910, oil on canvas. This is considered the first Futurism painting, which is moulded by the works and ideas of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The work shows the influences of many different art movements but contains the ideology of Futurism which is shown through the subject. It was suggested that this is the first painting to fully encompass the Futurism beliefs and ideals.