Modern Americas

Equestrian statue on a stone pedestal with trees and buildings in the background under a clear blue sky.

Independence movements across the Americas ushered in sweeping transformations that affect North and South America today

Mexico
The Caribbean
The United States

Mexico

Painting of several individuals, including a prominently placed woman with distinctive features, and others arranged around her, set against a landscape background, all framed in wood.

VIDEO: Getting to know Frida Kahlo and her Blue House (Casa Azul)

Surreal painting depicting a woman sitting on a blue chair, wearing a green jacket and white pants. A fantastical striped creature stands nearby. A floating horse sculpture is on the wall. A landscape with a running horse is visible through a window with yellow curtains.

VIDEO: Looking closely at Leonora Carrington's Self-Portrait

Stone arches with colorful murals depicting historical and cultural scenes, with people walking and cleaning the area, framed by neatly trimmed hedges.

VIDEO: Understaing murals with José Clemente Orozco

A framed painting of a man with black hair and expressive face, reaching forward with his hand, against a textured dark background, displayed on a blue wall.

VIDEO: Understanding foreshortening with David Alfaro Siqueiros's Self-Portrait

A landscape painting of a semi-arid area with rolling hills, sparse vegetation, a large body of water, and distant mountains under a bright blue sky with clouds.

VIDEO: Landscape Painting and José María Velasco's Valley of Mexico

a still life painting with a bunch of watermelons cut into different shapes

VIDEO: Frida Kahlo, Viva la Vida

Leonora Carrington, The Kitchen Garden on the Eyot, 1946, tempera on wood panel

VIDEO: Leonora Carrington, Kitchen Garden on the Eyot

Important terms and names

landscape painting

Romanticism

murals

Surrealism

los tres grandes

A surreal painting of a woman in yellow robes with fiery red hair, walking down a staircase holding a small vessel with mist and smoke rising from it, with ghostly faces on the walls and a dark ceiling with floating orbs.

VIDEO: Remedios Varo, The Call (La Llamada)

Diego Rivera, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, 1947, originally in the Hotel del Prado, Mexico City, 4.8 x 15 m, panorama or about 16 ft high and 50 ft long. Museo Mural Diego Rivera, Mexico City

VIDEO: Diego Rivera, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park

The Caribbean

Abstract painting with vibrant colors, including yellow, blue, red, and orange, in a black frame, displayed on a blue wall.

VIDEO: Learning to look at abstract art: Olga Albizú’s 900-50-80

The United States

Landscape painting of mountains, lake, trees, and a campsite with tents and people and horses.

VIDEO: Understanding atmospheric perspective with Albert Bierstadt

A stylized portrait of an elderly woman wearing a large hat with a textured band, depicted in a woodcut style with bold black lines and yellow highlights.

VIDEO: Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper

An art installation consisting of multiple rectangular, horizontal blue panels mounted vertically on a white wall in a gallery setting.

VIDEO: Minimalism, an overview

Related Resources

Explore Continents