Realism

This movement was reacting against the established art of the time …

The word “realism” with a small ‘r’ refers to any artwork that attempts to copy how we perceive the world (as in, optical realism).

“Realism” with a capital ‘R’ refers a specific movement of art

that occurred, mainly in France, in the mid-1800s.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps, David

Death of the Sardanapolus, Delacroix

Algerian Women, Delacroix

Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849

Rosa Bonheur, Plowing at Nivernais, 1850

Rosa Bonheur, The Horse Fair, 1853

Jean Francois Millet, The Sower, 1858

Millet, The Gleaners, 1857

Honore Daumier, Third Class Carriage, 1862

Daumier, Rue Transnonain, 1868

Honore Daumier, Gargantuaç

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

Ingres, Odalysque with a Slave, 1840

Edouard Manet, Portrait of Emile Zola, 1868

Edouard Manet, Bar at the Follies-Bergeres, 1883

Realist artists were concerned with:• scenes of contemporary life without romantic sentiment• personal views and subjects; art for art’s sake• avant garde attitude; the artist is separate from and ahead of mainstream culture.

Impressionism

Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise; 1872

The Impressionists were a continuation of Realism:• scenes of contemporary life without romantic sentiment

The Impressionists were a continuation of Realism:• scenes of contemporary life without romantic sentiment• personal views and subjects; art for art’s sake

The Impressionists were a continuation of Realism:• scenes of contemporary life without romantic sentiment• personal views and subjects; art for art’s sake• avant garde attitude; the artist is separate from and ahead of mainstream culture.

The Impressionists were mainly concerned with:• the play of light on surfaces (optical realism)

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral; 1892 - 1894

The Impressionists were mainly concerned with:• the play of light on surfaces (optical realism)• intensity of colour (canvases primed white; no black used)

The Impressionists were mainly concerned with:• the play of light on surfaces (optical realism)• intensity of colour (canvases primed white; no black used)• informal compositions, inspired by the invention of the camera

The Impressionists were mainly concerned with:• the play of light on surfaces (optical realism)• intensity of colour (canvases primed white; no black used)• informal compositions, inspired by the invention of the camera

The Impressionists were mainly concerned with:• the play of light on surfaces (optical realism)• intensity of colour (canvases primed white; no black used)• informal compositions, inspired by the invention of the camera

Not allowed to show their art in The Salon, the annual showing of French art in Paris, the Impressionists began to show their artworks independently from the Art establishment –

truly avant garde!