Introduction à l'histoire de l'art moderne et contemporain

According to the old medicine, the body is balanced by
humours, moving liquids, and diseases are a result of misbalance between these
liquids. For example, too much black bile could lead to melancholia. What about
this theory in the 20th century? According to Walter Benjamin,
melancholia is “the allegory for modernity”. Thus, it would be possible to
reread 20th century art with that prism.

The gap between the classical and the modern
representations of melancholia will be analysed, as well as how artists (such
as Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Orlan, Pierre Huyghen Bill Violan, Picabia or
Boltanski) represent the polymorphous and evasive aspect of contemporary
melancholia.

Its representation in other forms of arts will be
studies too, cinema for example.

At the end of the course, the students will know the
modern artists’ implication in defining melancholia, know the difficulty with
classifying, recognize new relevant experiences, etc.