A great light-handed introduction to Modern Art was produced by the BBC in 1999: This is Modern Art: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoSjRRv6ZrE

A book was also written by Matthew Collings: http://www.amazon.com/This-Modern-Art-Matthew-Collings/dp/18...

vist a museum and read the 'Agony and the Ecstasy' and 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone. The first book is on Michealangelo and the second is on the life of Vincent Van Gogh.