The Rise of the Avant-Gardes 1848-1918: A Transnational History

Why did modern painting flourish in Paris, Vienna, or Brussels but stall in London or Madrid? What propelled some avant-gardes to global fame while others vanished? This book takes you inside modern art’s explosive rise between 1848 and 1918, revealing how artists navigated nationalism, markets, elite networks, and public demands to invent new ways of making--and living--art. Forget the myth of isolated geniuses. Here, avant-gardes cross borders via dealers, journals, exhibitions, and exiles. Follow their journey from Paris to Moscow, Barcelona, and New York through alliances, rivalries, and migrations. Richly illustrated with artworks, maps, and charts, this is art history reimagined--transnational, social, and vividly alive.

Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel is Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. From 2007-2019 she was Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Art History at École normale supérieure, Paris. Her work bridges modern and contemporary art history, global history and social history, and computational methods, offering new perspectives on visual culture and artistic globalization.