19th Century Art

Joyce Teoh Mei Kuan | Diploma in Film & TV

19th Century Art Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post Impressionism

The nineteenth century was a rather busy time in the world. It saw the rise of the British Imperial Empire; the newly formed

United States was just one of the British settlements that began developing in this century, with many others springing up on

other continents. Invention and discovery swelled as the by-products of the previous century’s age of enlightenment, and

resulted in the urbanization that took place. With everything that was going on in the world, it make sense that so many

different types of art were gaining momentum.

Romanticism Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. The art from the Romanticism movement was based on emotion rather than rationale, and it emphasis on the individual rather than on society. These works are characterized by a brighter use of color and expressive brushstroke, and were meant to evoke emotion. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education, and the natural sciences.

The Kiss, 1859

Francesco Hayez

Collision of Moorish Horsemen, 1843

Eugene Delacroix

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Realism (or naturalism) Realism in the arts in the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements. The realism art movement in painting began in France in the 1850s. The realist painters rejected Romanism, which had dominated French literature and art since the late 18th century. Its chief exponents were Gustave Courbet, Jean-Francois Millet, Honore Daumier, and Jean-Baptist-Camille Corot. Realists often use un-prettified detail depicting the existence of ordinary contemporary life, coinciding in the contemporaneous naturalist literature of Emile Zola, Honore de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert.

Stone-Breakers, 1849 Gustave Courbet

The Gleaners, 1857

Jean-Francois Millet

The Chess Players, 1863

Honore Daumier

Young Girl Reading, 1868

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot .

Impressionism

It is an art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satirical review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877

Gustave Caillebotte

Impression, Sunrise

Claude Monet

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Post-Impressionism

It is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Post-impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colors, often thick application of paint, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary colors.

Starry Night, 1889 Vincent van Gogh

Boys on the Rock,

1895 Henri Rousseau