Art Appreciation
18th to 19th centuries
Neoclassical Art
• The neoclassical period lasted from about 1750
to 1850. Neoclassical artists revived and honored
the classical art of ancient Greece and Rome.
Neoclassical works of art showed a return to
more traditional times, and encouraged order,
reason, and discipline. Painting show heroic
people in scenes from or inspired by ancient
history, figures look idealized or perfect.
Literature stresses the world’s harmony and a
view of human nature based on reason. Music
(classical) the mood is moderate; does not
describe any extreme emotion
Romantic Art
• The romantic period lasted form about 18001850’s. Romantic artists believed in the
importance of returning to nature. Romantic
works of art showed strong imagination and
emotion. Painting shows scenes of family,
nature, heroism, religious, and emotional
subjects. Literature stresses human emotions
over the rational mind, common themes are
heroes, childhood, the past, and passionate love.
Music is emotional, with a wide variety of
rhythms, melody is dramatic.
Realist Art
• The realist period lasted from about the 1830’s to
1900. Realist artists emphasized the importance of
showing people and their lives as they really are.
Realistic works of art depict situations from daily life,
no matter how unpleasant or unheroic they might be.
Painting shows scenes of common people and the
human body is not idealized. Photography when
introduced was another form of realist art. Literature
describes the hardships of everyday life and criticizes
the greed and bad manners of the middle class. Music
(verismo). Opera is a play with its text set to music,
melody imitates human speech and voice and conveys
realistic emotions.
Impressionism
• The French school of impressionism began in the
1860’s as a reaction against the realist style.
Instead of showing life as it really is, they tried
giving their impression of a subject of a moment
in time. Artists were fascinated with light, and
used pure, shimmering colors to capture a
moment seen at a glance. Impressionists showed
a more positive view of the new urban society in
Western Europe, and commonly portrayed
performers, or people involved in leisure
activities. They glorified the delights of the life of
the rising middle class.
The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies
of his Sons, Jacques-Louis David, 1789.
Moonrise over the Sea, Caspar David
Friedrich, 1821
The Gleaners, Jean-Francois Millet,
1857
Croquet, Edouard Manet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Joseph
M.W. Turner, 1832
The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis
David, 1787
Lily Pond, Claude Monet
The March of the Weavers, Kathe
Kollwitz, 1897.
The Apotheosis of Homer, JeanAuguste-Dominique Ingres, 1827.
The Luncheon of the Boating Party,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881.
Liberty Leading the People, Eugene
Delacroix, 1830.
Women Ironing, Edgar Degas, 18841886
An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope
• Let Power or Knowledge, Gold or Glory,
please,
• Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease;
• Through life it is followed, even at life’s
expense;
• The merchant’s toil, the sage’s indolence,
• The monk’s humility, the hero’s pride,
• All, all alike, find Reason on their side
The Tables Turned, William
Wordsworth
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Up!up! My Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you’ll grow double:
Up! Up! My Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
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Books! ‘tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, here the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! On my life,
There’s more of wisdom in it.
Germinal, Emile Zola
• The four colliers had spread themselves out, one above
the other, to cover the whole coal-face. Each one
occupied about four metres of the seam, and there
were hooked planks between them to catch the coal as
it fell. The seam was so thin, hardly more than fifty
centimetres through at this point, that they were
flattened between roof and wall, dragging themselves
along by their knees and elbows unable to turn without
grazing their shoulders. In order to get the coal, they
had to lie on one side with twisted neck, arms above
their heads, and wield their short-handled picks
slantways.