Discuss at Least Two Nineteenth Century French Paintings, Which Portray the Experience of Contemporary Society.

Discuss at Least Two Nineteenth Century French Paintings, Which Portray the Experience of Contemporary Society.

The Realist movement in French art flourished in the late nineteenth century. The artistic movement showed us an initiation of looking at art that was objective and truthful. The style rejected the themes such as Romanticism and Classicism, and based itself upon the actuality of what the eyes can see, such as everyday characters, situations, dilemmas and objects. Artists that approached this contemporary style were Courbet, Millet and Manet, also known as ‘Realists’. Their brave attempts at Realism earned their paintings places at ‘The Salon’, a gallery situation in Pairs, that educated and entertained it’s viewers immensely.

Courbet established himself as one of the key artists in the ‘Realists’. His paintings included not only himself but also figures from various ages and classes, activities, alike to do with work, leisure, and rituals, landscape, especially in the suburbia areas, and countryside’s, such as Ornans. His main focus that was represented in his work was how he made such strong relationships within the figures so vivid within the paintings, which leads to the painting really interacting with the observer. An interaction with the viewer was a very strong yet non-artistic key the Realists had.
Courbet’s ‘Young Women from the Village’ exhibited the salon in 1852, however the painting violated the conventional rules, as it challenges traditional class. The painting consists of 3 young women elaborately dressed for a country outing. The painting’s composition is balanced and harmonious, as there is a horizontal outlook, with the figures flowing within the landscape. The colours are from a secondary palette, and resemble the pastel colours used in the rococo movement. The ladies in the painting were received as pretentious and ostentatious, while out of place of the surroundings they were located in. The painting clearly show that the women are vulgar and from a rural background. This was seen as an artistic offence.

During the same period,...

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