In my art history classes in the late 90s, I remember 'modern' specifically being used to refer to a period between the 1900s ~ 1980s, while 'contemporary' just

In my art history classes in the late 90s, I remember 'modern' specifically being used to refer to a period between the 1900s ~ 1980s, while 'contemporary' just means the current period, whether that's 1999 or 2019. So not, those words are not the same. Somewhere along the way, 'modern' has now come to refer to the current trends.