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POPART The Pop art was a revolutionary and explosive movement in USA and Europe in the mid 1950´s. Art took a gigantic evolutionary step when it recognized the everyday events in its motives. Before and after the second world war many established European artists went to the United States. Among the most prominent were Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and Willem de Kooning. They had a surrealistic image with existential and spiritual thoughts, as well as mental processes as starting point for their creations. The philosophy of those artists came to inspire the American art and the abstract expressionism appeared. One of the front figures in the United States was Jackson Pollock. As a contrast to the profound expressionism, the popular pop art so developed. The artists recognized and approved the everyday, something that was previously nonexistent in the art history. Depicting food products such as hot dogs, ice cream and pie became a common thing. Even cartoons, packaging, consumer goods and last but not least money was treated in the motives. All of a sudden these motives gained cultural status and an artistic value in themselves. The artists began seriously to show that art could be created with help of the consumer society, which was the new and unusual with Andy Warhol, one of the great and interesting pop artists. Many artists, like Roy Lichtenstein, were fascinated by the skillful handicraft of poster and cartoon artists and they used the technique, form and content from their products. In the beginning the audience was inappreciative since the art and the common everyday activities appeared to be one and the same. The motives were not only new, but they were also presented in an astonishingly literally manner, as never before. Thus the pop art liberated "the beautiful art" from a troublesome and bothering reverence; something to look up to and honour. It has also affected the American and European art market in a positive and interesting way which has been shared with the audience trough exhibitions around the world under the name of Pop-Art — one of the most revolutionary and explosive movements of the 20th century.
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