It seems like only yesterday that we were anxiously anticipating the shift into a new millennium, with all the hopes and fears that come with the changing times. With 2016 fast approaching, now is the perfect time to look back on the highlights of the past 15 years of painting to see how far we’ve come and to guess at where we’re going. These 12 paintings, excerpted from Phaidon’s The Art Book, 30,000 Years of Art, and Body of Art, represent a selection of contemporary painting masterpieces from the twenty-first century.