The European avant-gardes were a set of artistic expressions that emerged within the European modernist movement at the beginning of the 20th century.
This is a theme widely discussed in Enem competitions, entrance exams and exams.
Therefore, we bring 15 commented questions - some that have already been submitted to exams and others elaborated by us - in order for you to test your knowledge about this very important subject within the History of Art.
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question 1
(Fuvest /2019)
This image is the reproduction of:
a) an impressionist painting, marked by loose brushstrokes and the theme of American emigration to the European continent.
b) a cubist mosaic, characterized by geometric shapes that seek to highlight the hope of those heading for foreign lands.
c) an expressionist painting, which reinforces the suffering of those who moved in a context of persecution and intolerance.
d) a surrealist panel, which sought to highlight the tormented subconscious of those who left their places of origin.
e) a futuristic painting, influenced by references to technological modernization characteristic of the first half of the 20th century.
Correct alternative: c) an expressionist painting, which reinforces the suffering of those who moved in a context of persecution and intolerance.
Lasar Segall used expressionism to compose the canvas, which portrays the martyrdom of people leaving their country of origin. The expressionist strand was characterized by the concern with portraying feelings of anguish and despair.
a) INCORRECT. The work has no impressionist characteristics, nor is it loose brushstrokes, as you can see.
b) INCORRECT. It is not possible to observe the geometrization of shapes in the work of Lasar Segall, therefore, it is not a Cubist composition.
d) INCORRECT. It is not possible to say that Segall's work highlighted people's subconscious, nor that it had a surrealist influence.
e) INCORRECT. Although the futurist movement was, in fact, based on references to technological modernization, there are no characteristics of this trend on screen.
question 2
(Unifesp/2018)
Surrealism sought to communicate with the irrational and the illogical, deliberately disorienting and reorienting consciousness through the unconscious.
Fiona Bradley. Surrealism, 2001
The influence of Surrealism can be seen in the following verses:
a) A kitten pee.
With gestures of a waiter in a restaurant-Palace
Carefully cover the piss.
It comes out vibrating with elegance the right paw:
- It is the only fine creature in the little bourgeois pension.
(Manuel Bandeira, “Family pension.)
b) The church was big and poor. The altars are humble.
There were few flowers. They were garden flowers.
In the dim light, in the carved shadow
(which images and which faithful ones?)
we stayed.
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade, “Marian Evocation”)
c) I will never forget this event
in the life of my so tired retinas.
I'll never forget that halfway
had a stone
there was a stone in the middle of the way
in the middle of the way there was a stone.
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade, “In the middle of the road”.)
d) And on bicycles that were poems
my crazy friends arrived.
Sitting in apparent disorder,
here they regularly swallow their watches
while the knight-armed hierophant
he moved his one arm uselessly.
(João Cabral de Melo Neto, “Inside the loss of memory”.)
e) - Since I'm withdrawing
only death I see active,
only death came across
and sometimes even festive;
only death has found
who thought to find life,
and the little that wasn't death
it was of a severe life.
(João Cabral de Melo Neto, “Death and severine life”)
Correct alternative:
d) And on bicycles that were poems
my crazy friends arrived.
Sitting in apparent disorder,
here they regularly swallow their watches
while the knight-armed hierophant
he moved his one arm uselessly.
(João Cabral de Melo Neto, “Inside the loss of memory”.)
In this poem, João Cabral de Melo Neto uses illogical resources typical of the surrealists, when he describes "bicycles that were poems" and the act of "swallowing watches", after all, there is no way to turn bicycles into poems or swallow watches.
a) INCORRECT. Manuel Bandeira's poem has no surrealist influence, as it depicts a common - rather than illogical - scene of an animal urinating, while drawing a parallel with "bourgeois elegance".
b) INCORRECT. Drummond's poem refers to an image of people at a Catholic mass and does not bring irrational elements, as in surrealism.
c) INCORRECT. The poem "In the middle of the path", by Carlos Drummond, presents us with a scene of a person walking who comes across a rock in the middle and his path. The subject of the poem, trivial and without irrational features, serves as a metaphor for talking about the obstacles in life.
e) INCORRECT. In death and severe life, the poet describes the harshness of life in the sertanejo and does not present irrational or illogical elements.
question 3
(Enem/2010)
After studying in Europe, Anita Malfatti returned to Brazil with an exhibition that shook national culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Praised by her masters in Europe, Anita considered herself ready to show her work in Brazil, but faced harsh criticism from Monteiro Lobato. With the intention of creating an art that valued Brazilian culture, Anita Malfatti and other modernist artists:
a) sought to free Brazilian art from European academic norms, valuing colors, originality and national themes.
b) defended the limited freedom to use color, until then used in an unrestricted way, affecting national artistic creation.
c) represented the idea that art should faithfully copy nature, aiming at educational practice.
d) faithfully maintained reality in the portrayed figures, defending an artistic freedom linked to academic tradition.
e) sought freedom in the composition of their figures, respecting the limits of the topics covered.
Correct alternative: a) sought to free Brazilian art from European academic norms, valuing colors, originality and national themes.
Modernist artists intended to break traditions of European academic art. However, they were based on the pioneering artistic movements that took place in Europe - the avant-garde - and sought to produce an art influenced by these currents, but exalting the national culture.
b) INCORRECT. Modernists were not opposed to chromatic freedom, on the contrary, they used color in an often arbitrary and unrestricted way.
c) INCORRECT. The modernist movement often represented figures and objects differently from the real one and was not committed to a faithful copy of reality.
d) INCORRECT. On the contrary, modern artists were not committed to the faithful representation of reality and sought to break academic norms.
e) INCORRECT. In reality, modernists sometimes sought to extrapolate themes, limits, colors and representations in their works.
question 4
(Enem/2011)
PICASSO, P. Guernica. Oil on canvas. 349 × 777 cm. Reina Sofia Museum, Spain, 1937.
The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), one of the most valued in the artistic world, both in terms financial as well as historical, he created Guernica in protest of the air attack on the small Basque town of same name. The work, made to be part of the International Salon of Plastic Arts in Paris, traveled all over Europe, arriving in the USA and settling at MoMA, where it would only be released in 1981. This cubist work has plastic elements identified by:
a) monochromatic ideographic panel, which focuses on various dimensions of an event, renouncing reality, placing itself in a frontal plane to the spectator.
b) horror of war in a photographic way, with the use of classical perspective, involving the viewer in this brutal example of human cruelty.
c) use of geometric shapes on the same plane, without emotion and expression, unconcerned with volume, perspective and sculptural sensation.
d) crumbling of the objects covered in the same narrative, minimizing human pain in the service of objectivity, observed through the use of chiaroscuro.
e) use of various icons that represent two-dimensionally fragmented characters, in a photographic way free of sentimentality.
Correct alternative: a) monochromatic ideographic panel, which focuses on various dimensions of an event, renouncing reality, placing itself in a frontal plane to the spectator.
The huge work shows several scenes depicting the horror of the massacre on the same plane (a resource often used by the cubism), still uses only shades of gray (monochromatic) and places the scene as if it happened facing the spectator.
b) INCORRECT. The panel is not done in a "photographic" way, nor does it use classical perspective, on the contrary, the artist subverts perspective through cubist elements.
c) INCORRECT. Despite using geometric shapes, the artist does not display the scene "without emotion and expression". Far from it, Picasso even "exaggerates" his expressiveness and successfully performs a touching work on the horrors of war.
d) INCORRECT. The artist does not prioritize objectivity, in the same way that he seeks to exalt human suffering, and not minimize the pain caused by the massacres.
e) INCORRECT. The canvas does not represent the figures photographically, much less free from sentimentality.
question 5
(ESPM/2015)
The author was the creator of Ready-made, a term created to designate a type of object, invented by him, which consists of one or more articles of use everyday, mass-produced, selected without aesthetic criteria and exhibited as works of art in specialized spaces such as museums and galleries. By transforming any object into a work of art, the artist carries out a radical critique of the art system.
Check the alternative that respectively mentions the name of the artist responsible for the works presented in the question and the artistic movement that adopted the procedures set out in the statement, leading many to exclaim: “This is not art!"
Source: Carol Strickland. Commented Art.
a) Marcel Duchamp – Dadaism
b) Georges Braque – Expressionism;
c) Alberto Giacometti – Surrealism;
d) Henri Moore – Surrealism;
e) Franz Arp – Dadaism.
Correct alternative: a) Marcel Duchamp - Dadaism
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) revolutionized the concept of art by creating the ready-mades, industrialized objects already produced. The artist was a great exponent of Dadaism.
b) INCORRECT. George Braque (1882-1963) was an artist who, together with Picasso, created Cubism.
c) INCORRECT. One of the artists who dedicated themselves to expressionist sculpture was Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).
d) INCORRECT. Henry Moore (1898-1986) was an English sculptor and draftsman who developed his works also based on abstract movement.
e) INCORRECT. Franz Arp (1886-1966) was also an abstract sculptor.
question 6
(UFPE/2008)
The arts, with their vanguards and their statistical challenges, gained historical spaces in the capitalist world. Picasso, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Miró and many others belonging to these vanguards:
a) they maintained the cultural traditions of the West, reaffirming the value of the aesthetics of classicism.
b) broke with academic models of the time, changing the rules in the art market.
c) were very well accepted by European critics of the time, being praised for their boldness.
d) they gained immediate space in large museums, having an indisputable and surprising popular acceptance.
e) renewed the way of making art in the West, but were restricted to the academic and intellectual world of the 20th century.
Correct alternative: b) broke with academic models of the time, changing the rules in the art market.
Picasso, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali and Miró are some of the artists who revolutionized art and brought important innovations in the way of producing and enjoying works, very different from what had been done until then. In this way, they also impacted the art market.
a) INCORRECT. The aforementioned artists sought to break the rules and traditions that governed the arts in the period in which they lived.
c) INCORRECT. In the time in which they lived, these artists (some more, others less) had challenges and faced resistance with regard to the understanding of their works by critics and the general public.
d) INCORRECT. As mentioned in alternative c, the art produced by the artists of the modernist avant-gardes was not immediately accepted.
e) INCORRECT. Yes, modernist artists renewed art, but contrary to what the answer brings, they were not restricted to the academic world, as they went against academic rules.
question 7
(UPE/2014)
Look at the image below:
It portrays one of the most outstanding productions of German expressionism in the first decades of the 20th century. About this artistic movement, it is NOT correct to state that
a) it was an avant-garde movement that emerged in the first decade of the 20th century.
b) had as its main influence the labor movement, based on the Soviet cinema of David W. Griffith.
c) manifested itself basically in painting, literature and theater.
d) in cinema, his main concerns were the individual, his personal concerns and the drama of a society devastated by war.
e) his most outstanding productions in cinema were the Office of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu and Metrópolis.
Correct alternative: b) had as its main influence the labor movement, based on David W's Soviet cinema. Griffith.
Expressionism was not based on the labor movement and Soviet cinema.
a) INCORRECT. Yes, expressionism was a movement that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as other European vanguards.
c) INCORRECT. Yes, theater, painting and literature were highlighted within the expressionist movement.
d) INCORRECT. Expressionism sought to deepen human feelings and yearnings, exhibiting in its works individual dramas and at the same time portraying a collective feeling of helplessness in the post-war period.
e) INCORRECT. Yes, it is correct to say that movies Office of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu and metropolis were prominent cinematographic productions in expressionism.
question 8
(Enem/2016)
The work Les demoiselles d'Avignon, by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, is one of the initial landmarks of the Cubist movement. This work is also affiliated with Primitivism, since its composition appeals to the cultural manifestation of a certain ethnic group, which is characterized by:
a) production of African ritualistic masks.
b) fertility rituals of Celtic communities.
c) profane festivals of Mediterranean peoples.
d) nudity cult of aboriginal populations.
e) gypsy dances from southern Spain.
Correct alternative: a) production of African ritualistic masks.
Pablo Picasso was inspired, among other things, by the art of African tribes to produce Cubist works.
b) INCORRECT. Celtic fertility rituals were not an inspiration for Cubist production.
c) INCORRECT. The work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon it was not inspired by festivals of Mediterranean peoples.
d) INCORRECT. Picasso did not seek references in aboriginal populations to create Cubism.
e) INCORRECT. Although Pablo Picasso was born in southern Spain and there is, in fact, an intense Gypsy culture there, the artist was not inspired by these manifestations to create the aforementioned painting, nor Cubism.
question 9
(UFG/2008)
Observe and compare the two images:
The paintings deal with the same theme, although they belong to two different moments in the history of art. The confrontation between the images reveals a fundamental feature of modern painting, which is characterized by:
a) attempt to compose the pictorial space based on natural figures.
b) break with the principle of imitation characteristic of the visual arts in the West.
c) continuity of concern with the sharpness of the represented figures
d) secularization of themes and figurative objects based on the assimilation of Eastern techniques.
e) seeks to base representation on the evidence of objects.
Correct alternative: b) break with the principle of imitation characteristic of the visual arts in the West.
Precisely, the modernist avant-gardes aimed to break with the notion of faithful representation of figures.
a) INCORRECT. Modernism did not seek to portray "natural figures", but rather to break with the models imposed on the way things were represented.
c) INCORRECT. On the contrary, modern artists sought to break with the sharpness and realism of the figures shown in the works until then.
d) INCORRECT. Modernism sought to bring innovations in terms of themes and ways of producing art, and was not based on oriental techniques.
e) INCORRECT. The modernists' quest was for creativity and pattern-breaking.
question 10
(Enem/2011)
European avant-gardes should not be seen in isolation, as they present some approaching aesthetic and visual concepts. Based on avant-garde concepts, including the exploration of geometric forms of Cubism in the early 20th century, the picture Soldiers playing cards explores one:
a) uniformity of tones as a criticism of industrialization.
b) mechanization of man expressed by tubular shapes.
c) impossible approximation between machine and man
d) flat image to express industrialization.
e) sentimentalist approach to man.
Correct alternative: b) mechanization of man expressed by tubular shapes.
Fernand Léger was a Cubist artist who used tubular forms a lot in his representations. In this work, he alludes to the mechanization of men, transformed into machines, but still exercising a human activity.
a) INCORRECT. The chromatic uniformity does not necessarily criticize industrialization, as a fact, this is not what happens in the work.
c) INCORRECT. On the contrary, the work presents a possible approximation of men and machines, when it converts human actions into robotic actions.
d) INCORRECT. The image expresses more than industrialization itself, it presents, above all, an approximation between man and machine.
e) INCORRECT. The man is not approached in a sentimental way in the work, but in an objective and robotic way.
question 11
Expressionism was an avant-garde movement that emerged in Germany in the first decade of the 20th century. It emerges through the group Die Bruck, formed by artists Ernst Kirchner, Erickh Heckel and Karl Schimidt-Rottluff.
We can say that the influences and motivations of the strand are:
a) the ideas of industrialization of Art Nouveu and references in artists such as the Frenchman René Lalique.
b) the observation of lighting effects in the scenes and the representation of colors in contact with sunlight, influenced by Monet and Renoir's painting.
c) the concern to elaborate a painting that goes deeper into optical observation, fragmenting the scenes, as well as the painters Georges Seraut and Paul Signac.
d) the intention to express a mass art inspired by photography, as was typical of Andy Warhol's production.
e) the influence of artists such as Van Gogh and Munch, who portrayed human feelings such as anguish and loneliness.
Correct alternative: e) the influence of artists such as Van Gogh and Munch, who portrayed human feelings as anguish and loneliness.
Expressionism was based on the art of Van Gogh and Munch and on the idea of conveying the conflicting emotions and feelings of the early 20th century. These two artists are seen as precursors of German expressionism.
a) INCORRECT. Art Nouveu was a movement that had fertile ground, above all, in design and decoration. It occurred before expressionism, but it did not influence the movement.
b) INCORRECT. The avant-garde described in this alternative portrays Impressionism, an earlier movement. Expressionism, in fact, appears as a reaction to this trend.
c) INCORRECT. Artists Seraut and Signac are icons of pointillist painting, which emerged as a deepening of Impressionist ideas. They may be considered post-impressionist, but they are not a reference for expressionist artists.
d) INCORRECT. Andy Warhol and the “pop art” side emerged after expressionism, in the 60s, in the USA.
question 12
The movement that became known as Fauvism had as its main representative Henri Matisse, author of the screen “A Dança”, from 1910.
This was an avant-garde that had the following characteristics:
a) the fragmentation of the figures, seeking an understanding of reality in various dimensions.
b) abstractionism, revealing the nature of shapes and colors, without concern for representation.
c) chromatic arbitrariness and simplification of shapes.
d) the search for the representation of colors as they appear in nature.
e) the influence of futuristic art, valuing dynamism and speed.
Correct alternative: c) chromatic arbitrariness and simplification of shapes.
The movement has as a peculiarity the use of colors in a free and spontaneous way, without commitment to being faithful to reality, as well as simple forms.
a) INCORRECT. It was the Cubist movement that sought to geometrize reality, fragmenting the scene.
b) INCORRECT. Fauvism was a figurative art, even if simplified. There were artists who explored abstraction, but not within the Fauvist aspect.
d) INCORRECT. This outstanding feature is present in Impressionism, not Fauvism.
e) INCORRECT. Futurism really valued dynamism and speed, however it did not influence Fauvism.
question 13
Cubism is one of the most prominent European avant-gardes in art history. The movement had two strands: synthetic and analytical cubism.
About these developments, we can say:
a) Both synthetic and analytical cubism were concerned with transmitting an objective reality, abusing chromatic profusion and intensity.
b) Analytical Cubism appears at first as an attempt to represent objects from all angles, later generating difficulties in recognizing figurative representation.
c) Henri Matisse and Wassily Kandinsky are the outstanding artists in this field.
d) In Synthetic Cubism, also called Collage, the intention was to work on themes such as nightlife and the feeling of inadequacy present in society.
e) The blue and pink phases of Pablo Picasso are part of the analytical cubism strand.
Correct alternative: b) Analytical Cubism appears at first as an attempt to represent objects from all angles, later generating the difficulty in recognizing the representation figurative.
At first, Analytical Cubism was created, which investigated the representation of shapes and objects, fragmenting them until they became unrecognizable. Later on, synthetic cubism appears, in a return to figurativism.
a) INCORRECT. Cubism within the analytical and synthetic strands shows itself in a contained way with regard to the use of colors. The shades used ranged from black, gray, brown and ochre.
c) INCORRECT. The artists representing these strands were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
d) INCORRECT. Synthetic Cubism, in fact, was also known as Collage. However, his intention was not necessarily to represent nightlife and inadequacy, but to work forms and figures in order to study how they occupy space in the world.
e) INCORRECT. Picasso's blue and pink phases take place early in his artistic career, prior to the creation of Cubism.
question 14
Information related to the futuristic vanguard:
a) Emergence from a critique by Louis Vauxcelles about an art exhibition at the Salon d'autumn, in 1905.
b) enhancement of color and paint mixtures, which should be done on the canvas itself, emphasizing research into optical effects.
c) a questioning and critical view of reality, suggesting a future in which social inequality is reduced.
d) futuristic painting was based on elements of the unconscious, based on psychoanalytic theories by Sigmund Freud.
e) such avant-garde praised the speed and dynamism that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. It was based on fascist ideas and a cult of violence.
Correct alternative: e) such avant-garde praised the speed and dynamism that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. It was based on fascist ideas and a cult of violence.
Futurism, which emerged through a literary manifesto, valued industrialization and machines, in addition to identifying itself with the cult of war and ideas of fascism. It was the only vanguard with this type of positioning.
a) INCORRECT. The occasion described in this alternative concerns the emergence of the Fauvist movement, in which some artists were pejoratively called “les fauves”, which in French means “the beasts”, or “the wild.
b) INCORRECT. This information is related to the Impressionist movement, which emerged before the European vanguards.
c) INCORRECT. Futurism was not concerned with social inequalities, nor did it question society.
d) INCORRECT. It was the surrealist avant-garde that relied on the world of the unconscious and on Freud's psychoanalytic theory.
question 15
Dadaism, also known as Dadá, was an avant-garde that emerged during the First World War and had as representatives:
a) Marcel Duchamp and Tristan Tzara
b) Wassily Kandinsky and Toulouse Lautrec
c) Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso
d) Paul Gauguin and Giorgio de Chirico
e) Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp
Correct alternative: a) Marcel Duchamp and Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara was a Hungarian poet who participated in the creation of Dadaism and named the movement by randomly choosing a word from the dictionary. Marcel Duchamp was a prominent name in the field, mainly because of the creation of ready mades, ready-made objects raised to the condition of art.
b) INCORRECT. Kandinsky excels in abstractionism and Toulouse Lautrec was an artist who lived through the post-impressionist period, just before the European avant-gardes.
c) INCORRECT. Paul Cézzane was an important painter who influenced Picasso and other modern artists. Pablo Picasso is one of those responsible for creating the Cubist movement.
d) INCORRECT. Paul Gauguin was an artist at first impressionist, who later broke with the movement. Giorgio de Chirico, on the other hand, develops a metaphysical painting that will influence the surrealists.
e) INCORRECT. Duchamp, in fact, was a representative of Dadaism. Andy Warhol is known as a pop art artist, a strand that emerged in the 60s.
Learn more about Fauvism it's the futurism.
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