THE BOOK AT HAND REFERS to a critical period in the history of Western art. Indeed, in the mid-19th century, the rifts that would define what we call modern art emerge, while about a hundred years later, just before the mid-20th century, this trajectory will be violently interrupted.

World War II will place the final limit on this narrative, which begins with the phenomenon of world exhibitions, as a showcase of new technologies and the international economy, factors that shape modern "mass societies." Human labor, the construction of the visual space, topography, the management of the female body, the function of the gaze, the search for national identity, art as expression, "primitivism," "base materialism," and "decadence" are some of the concepts that outline the narrative thread here.

Extensive reference is made to the confrontation between "degenerate" and "German" art that National Socialism conducted, obscuring another truth beneath the smoke of the pyre of destroyed works: that fascism itself, despite its agrarian facade, is equally a child of the industrial era, an era inaugurated by the grand world exhibitions.

On this occasion, both Picasso's painting, which synchronized with the democratic government of Spain during the Civil War, the relationship of the Futurists with Mussolini's regime, and the "third" significant version of Interwar art, socialist realism, are approached.

The narrative, while not omitting artistic events and historical occurrences, focuses on specific works that are analyzed in greater depth as well as on certain concepts considered important for understanding the history of art in this tumultuous century.