The term modern art sounds like it means art that is popular at the moment,
“现代艺术”这个词的字面意思是：现下流行的艺术，
but in fact, modern art is a style that originated over 150 years ago,
但是事实上，现代艺术是一种起源于150多年以前的艺术形式，
and includes artists that by now have attained classic status, such as Picasso, Matisse, and Gauguin.
包括了毕加索、马蒂斯和高更等现在被称作“经典”的艺术家们。
And what's even more ironic is that the movement they pioneered, considered revolutionary and even scandalous at the time,
更具有讽刺意味的是，他们发起的这场在当时被认为是革命性的甚至可耻的运动，
was inspired largely by an object of a traditional and ancient design.
受到了许多传统古老样式物品的启发。
As far back as the Renaissance,
早在文艺复兴时期，
the primary European art movements emphasized conventional representation and adherence to classical forms.
主要的欧洲艺术运动强调传统的表现方式和对经典样式的依附。
But that began to change in the late 19th century as artists like Van Gogh and Cézanne expanded the boundaries of painting.
但随着像梵高和塞尚的艺术家拓宽了绘画的界限，这种情况在19世纪后期开始改变。
Soon, a movement arose that sought to create an entirely new style of art,
很快，一个致力于创造一种新艺术形式的运动开始了，
and one way of doing so was to look beyond Western civilization.
其方法之一是关注西方文明之外。
For example, Paul Gauguin moved to the island of Tahiti in the 1890s.
例如，保罗·高更在19世纪90年代搬到了塔西提岛。
There, he found inspiration in the island's inhabitants, landscape, and culture
他从那里的居民、景观和文化中受到启发，
to create artwork that intertwined European themes and Polynesian lore.
创造了既有欧洲主题又有波利尼西亚文化的艺术品。
Others looked the cultures of the Islamic world, but the most influential inspiration would come from Sub-Saharan Africa.
其他的一些人关注伊斯兰世界文化，最具有影响力的灵感来源于撒哈拉以南的非洲。
As European empires expanded deeper into the African continent,
随着欧洲帝国向非洲大陆内部的扩张，
its artifacts and artworks made their way into the hands of museums and collectors.
它的工艺品和艺术品被博物馆和收藏家收藏。
One such collector was Henri Matisse, who showed his friend Picasso a mask he had acquired made by the Dan tribe of the Ivory Coast.
亨利·马蒂斯就是其中一个收藏家，他向朋友毕加索展示了一个他得到的由科特迪瓦的吉奥部落制造的面具。
The mask awoke Picasso's curiosity, leading him to visit the Trocadéro Ethnographic Museum in Paris in 1907.
这个面具引起了毕加索的好奇，于是他在1907年参观了巴黎特罗卡德罗地区（夏乐宫地区）的人种博物馆。
Founded to house acquisitions from colonial conquests, the museum boasted a collection of African art,
这座博物馆收藏了殖民征服战争的战利品，拥有大量非洲艺术品，
with stylized figures and masks made of wood and decorated with simple colors and materials.
有风格一致的图案和木制的面具，简单的颜色和材料装饰着它们。
The visit was a revelation for Picasso, who proclaimed that African masks were what painting was all about.
这些启发了毕加索，他认为非洲面具具有绘画的全部含义。

At this time, Picasso had been working on a painting of five nude women in a style that would later come to be known as Cubism.
此时的毕加索正在创作一幅五个裸体女人的画，这幅画的风格在后来被叫做立体主义。
And while three of these ladies show facial features found in ancient Iberian art,
其中的三个女人有古老的伊比利亚艺术的脸部特征，
a nod to Picasso's Spanish heritage, the faces of the two on the right closely resemble African masks.
这反映了毕加索是西班牙的后裔，另外，靠右的两个女人的脸则特别像非洲面具。
Created in 1907 after hundreds of sketches and studies,
1907年创造，在几百次的素描和思忖之后，
'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' has been considered the first truly 20th century masterpiece,
《亚维农的少女》被认为是20世纪的第一个真正的杰作，
breaking with many previously held notions in art.
它打破了许多人们先前对于艺术的认识。
It was at once aggressive and abstract, distorted yet primal in its raw geometry,
这幅画曾被认为具有侵略性并且抽象，扭曲并且具有原始的几何图形，
a new artistic language with new forms, colors, and meanings.
是具有新形式、色彩和意义的新艺术语言。
And these avant-garde qualities caused a sensation when the painting was first exhibited almost ten years later.
当这幅画在十年后第一次展出时，这些先锋派的特点引起了轰动。
The public was shocked, critics denounced it as immoral,
公众震惊了，批评家抨击它不道德，
and even Picasso's own friends were simultaneously surprised, offended, and mesmerized at his audacity.
甚至毕加索的朋友也表示惊讶，感到冒犯，被他胆大鲁莽的行为惊呆了。
More artists soon followed in Picasso's footsteps.
很快，更多的艺术家追随了毕加索的脚步。
Constantin Brancusi and Amedeo Modigliani in Paris, as well as the German Expressionists,
巴黎的康斯坦丁·布朗库西和阿美迪欧·莫蒂里安尼，还有德国的表现派画家们，
all drew on the aesthetics of African sculptures in their work.
都在自己的画作中加入了非洲雕像的美学元素。
Others looked to a different continent for their inspiration.
其他人从不同来源获得灵感。
British sculptor Henry Moore based many of his semi-abstract bronze sculptures on a replica of a chacmool,
英国雕塑家亨利·摩尔以一个查克穆尔的复制品作为其半抽象铜雕的基础，
a distinctive reclining statue from the Toltec-Maya culture.
查克穆尔是一个与众不同的从托尔特克文化和玛雅文化中的倾斜雕塑。
Pre-Columbian art was also a major influence for Josef Albers.
约瑟夫·亚伯斯受到了前哥伦布时代艺术极大的影响。
He created a series of compositions, such as the geometrical series Homage to the Square,
他创作的一系列作品，例如几何系列《向正方形致敬》，
that were inspired by pyramids and local art he encountered on his frequent visits to Mexico.
受到了金字塔和他在频繁造访墨西哥途中遇到的当地艺术启发的。
Inspiration from ancient cultures initiated one of the most revolutionary movements in art history,
从古老文化中来的灵感开启了艺术史中最革命性的运动之一，
but were these artists playing the role of explorers or conquistadors,
但这些艺术家是否扮演着探险家和征服者的角色，
appropriating ideas and profiting from cultures they considered primitive?
利用自认为原始的文化并从中获利？
Questions like this deserve scrutiny, as artists continue to redefine standards.
像这样的问题应该仔细思考，因为艺术家们一直在重新定义标准。
Perhaps not too long from now, the bold innovations of modern art will seem like stale orthodoxies,
也许不久以后，现代艺术的大胆革新也会成为陈旧的观念，
ready to be overturned by a new set of radical trailblazers drawing inspiration from another unlikely source.
将被一群从另一个不大可能的资源中获得灵感的新先驱者彻底推翻。