The Pulse of Modernism: Physiological Aesthetics in Fin-De-Siècle EuropeRobert Brain traces the origins of artistic modernism to specific technologies of perception developed in late nineteenth century laboratories. Brain argues that the thriving fin de si cle field of "physiological aesthetics," which sought physiological explanations for the capacity to appreciate beauty and art, changed the way poets, artists, and musicians worked and brought a dramatic transformation to the idea of art itself. Author: Robert Michael