Avant-garde (noun) A military term meaning, “advance force,” that was adopted by French artists and critics in the nineteenth century to describe innovative art. The Impressionists were the first avant-garde artists. Their colorful and sketchy paintings were radically new.
Claude Monet, London, Houses of Parliament, 1904, oil on canvas, 32.1” x 36.4”, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Claude Monet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.