What is the work of art that you consider to be the most representative of the 20th (or 21st century)

Just one?! Could we narrow it down to media or country of origin?

And why does this sound like a homework assignment?

Andrew Wyeth. Only because I went to a Vino van Gogh party and got to paint this painting had a blast doing it. Plus learning about the artist allowed to more fully appreciate his talent.

The various propaganda posters from WW2.
It represents not only the brainwashing and propaganda from that period, but also both sides of the cold war and the current war on of terror, as well as all forms of past, current and future advertising.

Picasso, Guernica.

A work of of one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, depicting the brutality of 20th Century warfare.

@zenvelo That was just what I was about to type, but you beat me to it. Anyway, I agree.

Okay, fine. I’ll play…
I’m gonna go with N.C. Wyeth’s “Robinson Crusoe”.

Crusoe was the first book I remember reading as a child. Years later, while studying illustration, I really fell in love with his work. He’s also a Massachusetts boy, like me.

The Langham Hotel in Boston has a rather large painting of his depicting Abraham Lincoln that I really like.

Charles Chaplin’s “City Lights”.
Yes, it is a movie, but that is the definitive art form of the 20th Century.
Chaplin grew up in Dickensonian poverty. He became the greatest cinema artist of the century, and often comment on film about the difficulties of the age, from industrialism (Modern Times) to Hitler (The Great Dictator). He was banished from the country that made him famous because of the Red Scare of the 50’s.
Of all his films, City Lights is the masterpiece. Beautifully shot, simple to understand, funny yet touching.

I can’t answer for a whole Century. We’re way too fast these days. Graffiti street art will be noted in the history books for sure

Duchamp’s “Fountain”.

A century as hideous as its “art”.