Ever since cave painting became a thing, art has been evolving in a more or less steady, linear fashion. From the stylistic representations of the dark ages to the true to life paintings and sculptures, that dominated the renaissance. Sure, we had our ups and downs as civilisations like the Minoans vanished or, more likely, were destroyed by foreign invaders, but roughly speaking, the wheel of time churned out artistic innovations one at a time.

Fast-forward into 2019; the internet has long planted its roots firmly into the backbone of human society. The stream of information now available to us is beyond anyone’s dreams and with the power of instant connectivity now available to almost anybody, comes the end of gradual, linear evolution of collective thought.

Now, I don’t want to say we now think in four dimensions; we humans will, for better or worse, be the same beings we were thousands of years ago — evolution just doesn’t work that fast. But if we look at how art trends and movements happened pre-internet, there is a big difference compared to today.

Around 1860, almost all of France was dominated exclusively by the neoclassicists, lead by the School of Fine Arts in Paris. It had to be pretty, realistic and have some ancient or biblical anecdotal motif. Or even more popular amongst the intellectuals were beautiful naked ladies that, because they were “symbolical” or “allegorical” depictions, were of course allowed to be painted naked and shown publicly, even by respected people (the pornography of the 19th century).

And only long after this highly exclusive environment was firmly established, did the impressionists, with their half-baked paintings of smudgy sunsets, even stand a chance to partake in the exhibitions, let alone have their art be taken seriously by the wider public.

After impressionism came Cézanne and Gaugin and only a little later cubism and futurism and the myriad of other isms that populated 20th century Europe, all battling the established gallery systems for a chance to be exhibited and seen. And now, with the power of instant, worldwide information, we have everything and it’s available to anyone.

What was once a linear and slow river, has now been stretched and deepened into an international ocean where everything goes. Dive deep enough and you can find everything from Pepe memes to hyper realism. And the best part, all subgenres have thousands of passionate creators and consumers, who can connect with each other and never again suffer the pains of exclusivity that artists had to endure throughout the ages.