Avant-garde (pronounced /ɑvɑ̃ gɑʁd/) in French means front guard, advance guard, or vanguard. The term is commonly used in French, English, and German to refer to people or works that are experimental or novel, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.
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. Postmodernism posits that avant-garde has less applicability (or no applicability at all) in the age of Postmodern art.