XX century. Pastels in painting In the XX century, many avant-garde artists: symbolists, post-impressionists, expressionists, Fauvists and many others used pastel in their creative experiments, transforming this technique into the most liberated means of artistic expression. But some artists did not stop there; they began to combine traditional pastels with other materials, greatly increasing the original capabilities of the technique. Throughout this century, the concepts, techniques, and themes have changed greatly. Pastel fits perfectly into the artistic manners of every genre of art. Expressionists added color saturation and brushstroke resolution to pastel painting, the symbolists explored its capabilities in conveying the finest hues and delicate textures, the post-impressionists worked with the compositional play of pure colors Edgar Degas stands out from the pleiad of the famous impressionist pastelists with his innovation. He is considered one of the greatest pastelists, who made a huge contribution to the development of pastel painting. Such great impressionists as O. Renoir, O. Redon, E. Manet and, of course, E. Degas, so greatly expanded the use of pastels, that, starting from the twentieth century, literally all artists without exception began to use this technique when creating sketches, and, often, major works.
Most of the famous artists (J. Brac, P. Picasso, A. Matisse, J. A. Vuillard, M. Cassatt, M. Beckmann, P. Bonnard, and others) were outstanding pastelists who became the ancestors of all modern trends in the use of pastels. Artists of all following generations, including modern painters, use the whole palette of possibilities of pastels, not trying to copy other techniques. The quality of the texture and purity of pastel colors, like no other technique, is suitable for expressing fantastic forms while an artist is trying to create something abstract and outstanding. Abstractionists greatly appreciated such advantages of pastels as the ability to quickly cover a large surface with pigment, ease of feathering and in their designs, they often used original materials for pastel painting counter to traditional canvas, fabric, and cardboard.