TH

19

CENTURY
FRENCH ART

By: Crystal Zhang

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

AND NAPOLEONS ERA

The French Revolution began in 1789 and

ended in 1799.

It was a time of turmoil and unrest.

Constitutions were thrown out and the king that
ruled at the time was executed.
Conflicts arose between the French people
because of different political parties and
extreme violence came as a result of the
conflicts.
In the midst of the chaos and conflict, a man
named Napoleon Bonaparte appeared to the
French people. He was a powerful leader and
he implemented many important reforms.
Although he was able to stop the conflicts
between the French people and initiate many
new reforms, his desire and ambition to seize
the rest of Europe brought Napoleon many
troubles.

NEOCLASSICAL ART
The French Revolution and the events that followed after brought out an
emotional and artistic reaction from many artists at the time of the revolution and after the
revolution.
Neoclassical art focused on art that had a political or moral purpose and was greatly
influenced by the classical themes of self-sacrifice and public virtue from ancient Greek and
Roman history and art.
A notable neoclassical artist is David. His art documented many of the important events that
occurred during the French Revolution and Napoleons era of control and power. Many of
Davids sculptures were created in such a way that it could inspire noble action from the
French people.

David had many students but one student that stood out among the rest of his students was
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. He was known for his interest in pursuing the perfection of
neoclassicism. Although he was a master in color, he was more interested in how important
lines were in art and he concentrated on creating these lines with a mathematical mindset of
firm precision.

JACQUESLOUIS DAVID,
NAPOLEON
IN HIS
STUDY, 1812

This is a painting that David painted to show

Napoleons best attributes as he was
campaigning for him. Napoleon is drawn with a
calm expression and he is posed in a very
relaxed position. His hand in his pocket was a
very typical18th century pose that indicated that a
man was in a relaxed stance. David incorporated
many ancient and classical symbols in to this
picture. The first being the winged head of
mercury and this is a Greek symbol for wealth.
Another symbol is the lion leg on the table. This
lion leg represents the greatness and power of
Napoleon and its an Egyptian symbol for the
greatness and power of a king. A book that is
shown near to Napoleon is named Plutarchs
lives. This books lists and contains the
biographies of many important and powerful
leaders such as Caesar.

ROMANTIC ART
While Neoclassical Art was forming, another movement was also forming and it was forming against the
ideals of Neoclassical art and this became known as Romantic Art.
Romantic art focused on imagination and emotion. It was formed against the ideas and values of the
Enlightenment after the end of the French Revolution in 1789.

This movement of art was in opposition to Neoclassical art, many of the artists that were a part of early
romanticism were students of the Neoclassical artist Jacque Louis David.
The violence and uncontrollable power of nature can be shown in many of the paintings of Romantic art.
Another major aspect of romantic art is the interest in art that was subjective and that showed individuality.
John Constables painting illustrates these aspects very vividly in his landscapes.

THEODORE
GERICAULT,
RAFT OF
MEDUSA,
1818-1819

The occurrence of shipwrecks and other

struggles that man have against the
uncontrollable power of nature is very
common in Romantic art. A famous example
would be the Raft of the Medusa by Theodore
Gericault.

IMPRESSIONISM
Between the years of 1867 and 1886, a new movement formed and this became known as
impressionism.
As Herbert had said, The impressionist style of painting is characterized chiefly by concentration on the
general impression produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small
strokes to simulate actual reflected light.
When Impressionism is discussed, the names that are most likely to be heard are Monet, Degas, and
Renoir. These artists were the founders of the new movement and they all shared similar techniques and
styles. This group of artists all shared the same sketchy and colorful paintings but what was most
groundbreaking about these artists were their desire to create a new exhibition separated from the Salon.

PIERREAUGUSTE
RENOIR,
LUNCHEON OF
THE BOATING
PARTY, 18801881

This painting shows the changing image of

French society during the mid-19th century.
This images includes people from different
classes of modern Parisian society. It included
writers, businessman, actors, actresses, and
society women. Renoirs intention for this
picture was to display every day life in France
at the time.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM
During the late 1880s, a new movement was forming against impressionism. This
movement became known as post-impressionism.
The most famous post-impressionism artists were Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne,
Vincent Van Gogh, and many others.
Post-impressionism artists were interested in art that was more emotionally based
than art that was just based off of impressions. They searched for deeper meaning
and symbolism in their work.

A SUNDAY
AFTERNOON
ON THE ISLAND
OF LA GRANDE
JATTE,
GEORGES
SEURAT,
1884Seurat is a post-impressionist
artist and
he is most famous for his use of
1886
pointillism. Seurat used single tiny dots of
color and paint to form an entire picture.
His new method of painting was his way
of challenging the old notions of color
and optical theories during the
impressionist era.