There has been a shift from stable, realistic artwork, to more tangible, movement-oriented art. Art has always been valued for it's content, but attitudes toward it have changed over the years. Contrary to ancient art, where the images are strait forward, most of artwork today is less realistic, and designed for interpretation. In the fifteenth century, many art pieces were designed simply to look at, and represent a specific image. They were often designed with political or religious issues involved.
Modern art tries to portray intriguing and controversial issues, through realism and mixed mediums.
In the past art was valued for its political stamina, where art today seems to be valued simply because it is art. The more difficult it is to figure out what the artist was trying to portray the higher the value of the artwork. Although you must take into account political and social issues, they are not main themes in all modern art. It seems that art ofpast times, like The Four Saints , is fairly easy to interpret. Various art historians have come to similar conclusions about the meaning behind it.