Paul Cézanne’s “Tulips in a Vase” sells at auction for $1.4 million. At the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, France, Orson Welles wonders what it would be like to see the world through the eyes of Pablo Picasso and poses the question, “What is modern art?” He reflects that Picasso was not a revolutionary, but rather inspired by artists before him, such as Cézanne and his predecessors, the Impressionists. Art historian Pierre Schneider explains that Cézanne transformed art by making his brush strokes visible, thereby emphasizing the role of the artist in creating a painting’s illusion, or “window” to a fantasized world. According to Schneider, Picasso and Henri Matisse represented the “gateway” between Cézanne and modern art. Cubism followed, breaking the mold of traditional composition and turning the canvas into a surface with its own merits. Signifying this break with tradition, the Louvre Museum in Paris temporarily displaced Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to make space for Picasso’s work. Also in Paris, Jewish-Russian painter Marc Chagall transformed the logic of Cubism into the irrational, emotional realm of Surrealism. In Rome, Italy, Chagall’s contemporary, Giorgio de Chirico, used classical techniques to represent “a tragedy of serenity” depicting subconscious fantasies. Back at the Musée d'Art Moderne, Schneider describes the work of Umberto Boccioni and his colleagues, who wanted art to transcend still lifes and convey the physical motion of real life; hence, Futurism was born. In Munich, Germany, Hitler once denounced modern art, as it was influenced by “non-Aryan” cultures throughout the world, including African tribal masks and Japanese woodcuts. While European modern artists fought for recognition, many Americans embraced new artistic movements with enthusiasm, including writer Getrude Stein, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, as well as the Rockefellers and the Guggenheims, among others. At the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Matisse, Ernst Kirchner, Hans Hoffmann, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and other modernists influence young artists. American Alexander Calder creates mobiles that transform sculptures into light, kinetic structures that compliment the space surrounding them. At his studio in Connecticut, Hans Richter assembles a collage from paper scraps while describing the Dada movement, which embraced the element of chance in art making. In Venice, Italy, Peggy Guggenheim explains that her collection is a historical “survey of all non-realistic movements in art, beginning with Cubism.” She notes that she would display such artwork at her gallery in London, England, and when it failed to sell, she purchased the best pieces as a conciliatory gesture to the artist. Catalan artist Salvador Dalí marked a variation in the Modernist movement, as he used traditional academic techniques to depict fantasy. At his studio, Dalí dips a squid into a vat of ink, then transforms the amorphous print into the portrait of a woman. In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum displays the work of Jean Dubuffet and Paul Klee, who base their work on primitive imagery. Abstract expressionists, such as Piet Mondrian, eliminate figurative representations of reality altogether. Historian Pierre Schneider explains that after WWII, artists such as Jackson Pollock and Pierre Soulages based the subject of their artwork on the artistic gestures of the painter. At his studio, Soulages drags a brush, saturated with black paint, against the surface of a canvas stretched on the floor, then apologizes that he cannot paint in front of a camera. Chinese abstract expressionist Zao Wou-Ki explains that the Modernist movement transcends cultural boundaries. While Jackson Pollack’s “action painting” expressed vitality, Willem de Kooning, interviewed in his studio, says he “paints fast to keep the glimpse” into his subconscious alive. As Robert Motherwell paints, he says that he aims to be “economical” with his brush strokes to portray “an instant moment of contemplation.” He tells art critic Robert Hughes that his series, “Elegy to the Spanish Republic,” is “not political, but my private insistence that a terrible death happened that should not be forgot.” In archival footage, Picasso explains that his masterpiece “Guernica,” which expressed the tragedy of war, as well as his other paintings, “are memoirs, like notes one writes to oneself.” Back at Musée d'Art Moderne, Orson Welles describes the work of Fernand Léger, who used his paintings to capture the power of machinery and human bodies. Similarly, Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon created figurative images to express unconscious experiences. Andre Masson, whose “automatic technique” inspired Pollock and others, argues: “Surrealism is everywhere.” At the French studio of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, Pierre Schneider explains that the artist “took the revolutionary step of freeing sculpture from its century-old submission to subject matter,” using figurative constructions to depict “the essence behind the appearance.” Another illustrious sculptor, Jacques Lipchitz, who was known for translating Cubism into sculptural forms, wishes to live longer than one hundred years; however, he died shortly after the interview. In England, sculptor Henry Moore says that he finds it impossible to imagine life without art, and Anthony Caro works with assistants to dismantle a sculpture for an upcoming exhibit in New York City. In the U.S., Louise Nevelson constructs Cubist “sculpture houses” in her studio with moveable parts so others can rearrange them. She tells critic Robert Hughes that as a woman, her work is different than art produced by men because she is “primitive,” using simple tools “to get what I want.” In Rome, Italy, Giacomo Manzù designs religious art, even though he is a Communist. Elsewhere in Italy, at the Carrara quarry where Michelangelo sourced his marble, Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi prepares for an upcoming exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York City, claiming that sculpture is about dialog, not material value. In Paris, the Israeli kinetic artist Yaacov Agam uses motion and light to create sculptural art objects and the founder of France’s Cinémathèque museum, Henri Langlois, argues that Agam’s paintings are evocative of film, as they represent the intersection of time and imagery. English painter Bridget Riley is also inspired by geometry and optical illusion. She tells critic David Thompson that wavelengths of color swell and contract in response to each other, much like musical notes. In her studio near Paris, Portuguese painter Vieira da Silva explains that she does not see the world through traditional perspectives, as she is more interested in expressing aspects of time. New York City African American artist Romare Bearden says that he tries to “X-ray” his subjects to show what is going on behind the surface. Marcel Duchamp sought to undermine artistic pretentions with “readymades,” presenting everyday objects as art, or “anti-art.” His pioneering work into Conceptual art inspired Pop artists in the 1960s, including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, who detoured from Abstract Expressionists by embracing graphic images, such as advertisements. At his New York City studio, Roy Lichtenstein projects comic strips and graphic work by other artists to create abstractions. The Venice Biennale features work by young artists who seek reactions from their audience. Art critic Pierre Schneider explains that modern art is a question rather than an answer, with no traditional criteria by which to judge its merits. Artist George Segal says that his sculptural work borders on abstraction and realism, using figurative sculptures to represent fatastical “places that I can enter.” Public figures such as Yoko Ono and John Lennon exploit their celebrity to promote the perception of art as a conceptual process rather than a physical object. At the Documenta exhibition in Kassel, Germany, Joseph Beuys claims “thinking is sculpture” and Claus Oldenberg displays a “mouse museum.” Back in his New York City apartment, Oldenberg tells Robert Hughes that his “three-way plug” electrical outlet inspired artwork. At the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., U.S. government officials and socialites mingle with U.S.S.R. dignitaries at an exhibition of Russian modern art collections, proving that art traverses social and political divides. Walking past masterpieces at Musée d'Art Moderne, Orson Welles evokes the words of Matisse, saying, “The characteristic of modern art is to participate in our life.” Welles notes that there will never be an end to innovation in art; he challenges people to view artistic movements with appreciation and an open mind.