French Realism

Art A Brief History

Jeffrey Swenskie

Module 10

04-6-07

French Realism was predominately a result of great political and social disruption. We can date back to 1848 as the principal time of Realism. The revolution in France led many artists to explore the idea of presenting experiences of the life that was around them. This included many paintings of poor and average people, who were not the average subject of previous artists. Realism and Naturalism was an idea of expressing the actual world around them. This was quickly embraced by other countries including the United States and Russia. Realism was opposed to the earlier notions of Romanticism and Neoclassicism and was supported by the view and belief of scientific methods. By the mid 1860’s, Edouard Manet became the unofficial leader of a group of artists which would take the French Realists tradition to a new level. These artists known as Impressionists began to paint outdoor images such as country sides, and such in an effort to record the effects of light and environment. This is the period in which nature and the reality of its colors became dominant.

In my opinion, the notion of reality changes from an actual view of what is seen (Realism) towards an image which contains the artists feelings and emotions (Impressionism). Impressionism seems to pull you into the scene, to make you feel as if you are looking in instead of at the image.

Post-Impressionism was on extension of Impressionism but differed in such as to utilize more geometric shapes, distort form for expressive effect and use unnatural colors. Most of the Post-Impressionism artists were actually from the Impressionist period. These artists abandoned their art form in order to create a more personal art. I feel that these artists were trying to find new ways to express themselves without being restricted of the previous styles ahead of them. I think that during this time of artistic evolution, many great strides were made in order to show one’s inner self through artistic expression.

The artist which most impresses