Arts in the
Industrial Age
I can compare
Romanticism, Realism, and
Impressionism
Romanticism
 Was
a reaction to the political and social
times, Emotion over Reason, Senses over
Intellect
 Didn’t reject reason, just believed in the
importance of emotion too.
 Key idea: each individual has a unique
personality from birth.
 Key descriptors: Imagination, Freedom,
Mystery, Exotic, Nature, Inner Struggles
Realism
 An
attempt to portray life exactly as it was
without sentiment
 Common everyday world was purest
source of inspiration
 Often focused on harsh realities of the
Industrial era
Thomas Eakins’s 1875 painting The Gross Clinic –
medical students learning by performing autopsies
Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857
Honore Daumier, The Third-Class Carriage, 1862
Impressionism
 Reaction
to development of photography
 Its aim was to SUGGEST rather than
DESCRIBE
 Reflected the chaos of the Industrial era
 Impressionists rejected studios in favor of
the countryside.
Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1872
Monet, Saint Lazare Train Station, 1877
Edgar Degas, The Dancing Class
Monet, Rouen Cathedral