Avant-garde (French pronunciation: [avɑ̃ ɡaʁd]) is French for "vanguard".
[1] The term is commonly used in French, English, and German to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art and culture.
Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.
The notion of the existence of the avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism.
Postmodernism posits that the age of the constant pushing of boundaries is no longer with us and that avant-garde has little to no applicability in the age of Postmodern art.