ELI5: What Is the Difference Between Modern Art and Contemporary Art?

The simplest difference is that modern art is the art of your grandparents' time, while contemporary art is the art being made right now in our time.

Think of it like looking at the cars in a neighborhood or the music on a playlist:

• Modern Art is like a classic vintage car from the mid-1900s. Artists stopped painting traditional, photo-realistic portraits of kings and started experimenting with crazy shapes, bright splashes of color, and new ideas. It happened from roughly the 1860s to the 1970s. Famous painters like Pablo Picasso, who made faces out of wild geometric blocks, or Vincent van Gogh, who painted swirling starry skies, made modern art. It was fresh and shocking back then, but today, that era is finished and belongs to history.

• Contemporary Art is like the brand-new electric car driving down the street today. It means art made in the present moment, usually from the late 20th century up until today. These artists are alive right now, watching the same movies, using the same smartphones, and worrying about the same world events as you. Because of this, their art can be almost anything: a digital video, a room filled with giant balloons, a statue made of recycled plastic trash, or even an artist painting a mural live on the street.

• Modern art was a revolution of the past that changed the rules of how art looks.
• Contemporary art is a conversation happening right now that uses today's ideas, technology, and materials.