Julian Bell – How Modern Art Began in 1600

An aggressive, scandalous avant-garde with revolutionary new artistic methods that got denounced as 'the destruction of painting'.  This was not the Surrealists nor the YBA's, but - over three centuries before - Caravaggio and his followers. To mark the opening of the National Gallery exhibition Beyond Caravaggio, Julian Bell describes the surge of artistic innovation that spread from Rome and Naples during the early 17th century. His focus is less on the often told tale of Caravaggio himself and more on the broader mental revolution involved in 'Caravaggism'. Also, on why this early 'modern art' phenomenon was succeeded by styles we now find altogether more alien.