Tai F. answered • 07/27/22
Art historian, linguist, museum professional, and editor
Short answer, yes!
Most of what we consider "modern art" is a direct reaction to European art standards, specifically those that resulted from countries like England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, etc. studying Greco-Roman art. To that effect, when those countries colonized places like India and Africa, they brought and often forced the promotion of their art and culture over native forms, which can be exemplified by the name of the Albert Hall Museum, named after King Edward VII (Albert Edward).
Beyond even the name, the fact that many Egyptian artifacts (including a mummy) are displayed within this museum is a direct link to the fact that England and other colonizing countries often displaced cultural artifacts from their place of origin. When you add in the fact that modern artists such as Picasso were directly inspired by African and Egyptian artifacts, and later artists were inspired by Picasso and his like, you have an echo chamber of artistic influence that would not be possible without the imperialistic practices that allowed a French man to view African and Asian artworks. Furthermore, many museums as we know them would not have the collections they do without earlier acts of looting and colonialism, and as museums are the institutions the most codify our notions of 'art', you can directly tie the foundation of museums as places to exhibit ill-gotten gains to museums as places that champion modern art.
Hope this helps! Please feel free to ask me more questions relating to art history or museum studies :)
