Realism

Realism

The realist movement in French art lasted from about 1840 until the late 19^th century. Realism arrived after the revolution of 1848 that overturned the monarchy of Louis-Philippe and developed during the period of the second Empire under Napoleon III. The realist wanted to paint accurately and in a truthful way. Modern subjects taken from the everyday lives of the working class. Realism was based on what the artist saw exactly of the modern world. In 1861 Gustave Courbet said “painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things”. Courbet (1819-1877) became the leading artist of the realism movement by going against the previous styles of painting, preferred at the official salons and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the state-sponsored art academy. Courbet exhibited some work at the Paris Salons of 1849 and 1850-51 A Burial at Ornans and The stonebreaker.  

A Burial at the Ornans

       

 

 

The Stone Breaker

 

 

References:

• Nineteenth-Century French Realism | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. Nineteenth-Century French Realism | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm.