Contemporary art is referred to by two terms: art modern and contemporary art. The first describes creative processes from the late nineteenth century to about the middle of the last century. The second refers to works from the post-war to the present. But even this division is no longer enough. Time goes on, and works that were cutting-edge yesterday become history. Contemporary art museums feel this especially acutely because their acquisitions are gradually becoming obsolete.
Nowadays, it is common to consider works created in the last 50, 30 or 20 years as contemporaries’ art.
Contemporary art has difficulty with precise definition and timeframe: the term is often used in relation to works of most of the 20th and all of the 21st century. In the 1990s the term “contemporary art” appeared, but only the most innovative or radical techniques were called that, and now this expression is rarely used.
Another definition of the term “contemporary art” is the work of artists who are still alive and working.