Which would you pay $35 million for? The Romanian Blouse by Henri Matisse (left), or the Samurai (right) by the five-year-old daughter of one of Europe 101's co-authors? Many people ask: Why is modern art so bizarre? Better to ask: Why is the modern world so bizarre? In the 20th century, the world changed by leaps, bounds, and somersaults. The art merely reflects the turbulence of that century of change. Modern artists capture the "real" world in two different ways. Some depict the real world but distort things to express emotion (as Van Gogh did). Others abandon the visible world altogether, using basic lines and patches of color to capture the unseen (more like the example by Matisse, above). Most modern art styles are variations on these two basic themes: expressive or abstract.