What is Avant-Garde thinking?

Some of you art enthusiasts and literature lovers might already be familiar with the term “Avant-Garde”. Others may have seen it here and there, with the word looking a bit intimidating. Like many words in English that are often borrowed from other languages, avant-garde comes from French. The English meaning is “vanguard” or “advance guard” which denotes a sense of moving ahead from the rest and moving forward in time. Keep this in mind as you read ahead.

An Icon of ‘Thinking outside the box’

Avant-garde is a challenge to conventional thoughts, a curiosity to imagine beyond reality. When all your friends say the sun can only be painted yellow and you go, “Why can I not paint the sun red if the heat feels unbearable, blue if it looks sickly pale, and white because it is just a big star?” that’s one avant-garde thought! In fact, that is actually how avant-garde began as a revolutionary art movement. Across the world in France in the 19th Century, painters and writers united to engage with art as a form of liberation, going hand in hand with revolutions in the field of science and socialism. It then slowly spread all over Europe, taking shape as a massive philosophy in history. The works and approach of these European avant-gardists felt odd to society then but seem modern and ahead of their time now.

In avant-garde thinking, one could either draw simply for the sake of drawing, meaning you could paint the sun red or draw it square, if that’s how it felt to you, or not draw the sun at all! A tree in the sky instead of the sun works too. (Check out Belgian artist René Magritte’s painting “Golconda” here, where people in suits fall from the sky like rain!).

So, is avant-garde just art?

No. The artists of the avant-garde (if they could) would run to tell you it isn’t. In 20th Century war-torn Europe, the avant-garde thought branched and spiralled into popular literary and art movements like expressionism, surrealism, cubism, and more which took the term to global recognition. But the root of this movement is beyond just art. This thought process was a by-product of all those creative people who had survived wars and were deeply affected by conflicts. The devastation of war made people think beyond the conventions of society, to be boundlessly innovative, and to keep questioning. All of these are relevant even today.

The Avant-Garde Circle

Now if you think you might be something of an avant-garde thinker, here’s a few people you’ll be excited to know. Marcel Duchamp (French painter and a key figure of avant-garde, who broke every existing concept of what and how art is created), Cinna from The Hunger Games (Katniss Everdeen’s stylist, known for his tricky designs), Henri Matisse (French artist, famous for using unnatural colours), Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher and critic, famous for his challenging views on the idea of truth as well as belief that we must always question ourselves - our thoughts, values, why we believe what we believe), Igor Stravinsky (Russian-born classical composer, famous for his “The Rite of The Spring” which aggressively shocked the audience for its use of highly unconventional, irregular beats and rhythms.)

To think avant-garde thought is simply opposing societal and traditional thinking is a misunderstanding. The key is letting your imagination fly limitlessly and a curiosity that’s felt at the deepest recess of your heart. Think of some avant-garde things around you. An example is artificial intelligence. We can consider AI as an avant-garde for its continuous, radical expansion, and disruption of the way we use time.