Chronologically arranged, each chapter focuses on a particular work or idea that changed modern art as we know it. Presented in beautiful spreads and with informative text, readers will discover how a painting such as Edouard Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe shocked the art establishment with its depiction of nude women alongside fully clothed men. The author explains how the work's striking visual quality and easy brush strokes helped give birth to the Impressionist movement. This book features a number of similarly pioneering works such as Monet's Impression Sunrise, Cezanne's Mon Sainte-Victoire, van Gogh's Wheatfield with Crows, Rodin's Monument to Balzac, Matisse's Woman with a Hat, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel, Ernst's Aquis Submersus, Rivera's La Creacion, Calder's Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, Pollock's Full Fathom Five, Nam June Paik's TV Cello, Smithson's Spiral Jetty, and Chuck Close's Bob. Perfect for perusing or reading from cover to cover, this book illustrates how the world's greatest artists are geniuses at synthesizing the accomplishments of those before them in order to create groundbreaking works for others to follow.