Postmodernism may appear as the ultimate phase of modernism; it expresses what may happen in art after the modernist project appears to have ended. It is characterised by an ability to use a vocabulary of media, genres or styles as parts of an extended visual language that goes beyond the boundaries of what is usually thought of as the modernist project. Postmodernism is, by its very nature, impossible to define clearly. Some of the best expositions appear in the theoretical writings of Jean Baudrillard, who concludes that what motivates art historical change is not any 'authentic' or 'original' impulse, but simply fashion, pivoting on the desire for novelty, which he sees as an organic and integrated process.

See also: Postmodern music