This chapter attempts to contextualize two significant moments of discontinuity in the art history of Pakistan which can also be read as moments of opportunity. The first rupture, centered on modernism, created a tension between artists and a society that could not access its seemingly alien esthetic.
Modernism however became an important discursive space where new ideas could be tested against existing epistemologies, and this phenomenon, which was common to all postcolonial nations, can be seen as an important period of both departure and embracing the new. The relationship between modernism and socialism and the impact of Cold War politics on the early art scene discussed here for the first time gives art history of Pakistan a new lens to examine the complicated influence of overlapping ideologies. The second rupture was heralded by forces of religious extremism.These two moments of rupture shifted the axis of entrenched values in art and opened up opportunities of critical reflection through new frame-works. They became sites of negotiation around issues of identity.