19th Century

Revolutions, railways and the big city: in the 19th century, artists between Romanticism and Realism looked for new answers to a world in upheaval.

The times

The French Revolution and Napoleon’s wars shook Europe. With the steam engine, the factory and the railway, industrialisation transformed landscapes and ways of life; cities grew at a breathtaking pace. A prosperous middle class visited exhibitions, and newspapers made art a topic of conversation. From 1839, photography offered an entirely new way of capturing the world.

What art set out to do

The Romantics – Friedrich, Turner, Delacroix – put their faith in feeling, nature and the sublime: mist, storm, mountains and wide seas. Realists such as Courbet and Daumier, by contrast, showed work, poverty and everyday life without embellishment. Towards the end of the period, Manet and painting in the open air broke the rules of the academy and paved the way for Impressionism.

How to recognise it

  • Dramatic nature: thunderstorms, sunsets, figures seen from behind facing the distance.
  • Everyday life without embellishment: peasants, workers and street scenes instead of gods.
  • Freer brushwork, especially in sketches and watercolours.
  • New subjects: travel, fantasies of the Orient, railways and the big city.

Timeline

  • 1789: The French Revolution begins.
  • c. 1818: Caspar David Friedrich paints “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog”.
  • 1830: Delacroix paints “Liberty Leading the People”.
  • 1839: Photography is presented to the public.
  • 1863: At the “Salon des Refusés”, Manet’s “Luncheon on the Grass” causes a scandal.

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