Discovering Art: The Beginnings of Contemporary Art

Course Description

Have you ever wanted to know more about the wide-ranging permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)? How can we begin to make sense of the various styles, techniques and subjects presented? The Discovering Art series at the Thomas More Institute offers guidance on appreciating the works on display through lectures and museum visits, with this course focusing particularly on contemporary art.

What is contemporary art? When referring to art by this name, we are usually speaking about art created by a living or recently deceased artist. It may refer to our fast-changing world, be culturally or self-referential, or even be a comment on art itself. In the first session, we will look at precursors of contemporary art, and consider a number of art movements from the early 20th century to the post-World War II period, including Surrealism, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, and more. For the second session, we will look at how modern sensibilities have been reflected in painting specifically in Canada and in Quebec, beginning in the 1920s. 

Two in-person lectures will introduce the works we will be exploring in our museum visits. The week following each lecture, we will meet at the MMFA to engage directly with the art discussed. The structure of the course will thus be as follows: 

Week 1: In-person lecture at the Thomas More Institute 

Week 2: Visit to the MMFA

Week 3: In-person lecture at the Thomas More Institute 

Week 4: Visit to the MMFA

Course Details