In the painting of the 20^th century, the shadows were practically banished. The first cubism and the following abstract art movements were loyal to the bidimensionality of the canvas.

The shadowsappeared only with Giorgio de Chirico and the “return to the order” of the twenties, with a new part in the play: in Chirico, the shadows, at the same time that they seam to be fiction, bring to the composition a heavy scene. This antinomy is characteristic of great part of the realism of the 20^th century, where the sinister co-exist with the fake appearance of a stable order.

Within this parameters appear the paintings of Picasso, Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent (the illustrator of Moby Dick), Christian Schad, and Felix Nussbaum, between others.

A great example of the modern period use of the shadows is the painting of Christian Schad called Portrait of Dr. Haustein. It was one of the images used in the publicity of this exhibition, as its meaning is clear: the painter painted the portrait of his model, very well executed. However, the painter believed that this Dr. Haustein was not as “beautiful” in the inside as he might look at the outside. So, he represented his true him in his shadows, like a monster.

Here we can clearly see the existence of the fake appearance of a stable order.

Many of Picasso's paintings can also be included in this period. Picasso’s work is far too complex and vast do that I can explain it here (even if it fitted, I wouldn’t know!). But there was a very used image of Picasso in this exhibition too, the image of all catalogue front pages, which is called The Shadow on the Woman,shown at right.

This painting shows a naked women, lying in her bed, in a dark room. Suddenly, appears a man that opens the door. There is light in the other side of the door, so the man’s shadow is projected over the naked woman’s body, which can be seen by the clarity coming from the door.

Note that all of this is painted only in two dimensions, although we can exactly understand the third dimension, not because it is explicit, but because it is insinuated.

It can also be understood that it is the artist’s own shadow that floods the canvas at the same time that he possesses the represented naked women.