In 1860 Emperor Napoleon III decided that a new opera house would be built in Paris.
Charles Garnier, a 35-year-old architect, won the contract. His project was for a luxurious venue, ideal for the grand festivals of the time.
Garnier mixed different architectural styles from the past. This is known as Eclecticism.
However behind this decorative explosion of shapes and colours, he did not forget what was essential: the venue was designed to host operas. Therefore, a part of it had to be devoted to artists and technical aspects, and another part had to be suitable for receiving and providing seating for the public. This is what we refer to as Rationalism.
Garnier’s Opera House is both eclectic through its mixture of different styles and rationalist because each area was designed for a specific purpose.
After Courbet, another artist wanted to paint without idealizing what he saw. His name was Manet, with an “A”. We’ll talk about Monet with an “O” later.
He exhibited this painting in 1863 and shocked the public. They found it ugly and came to see it for a good laugh.
We have to admit that it was far removed from the taste of the time.
During the same year, for example, Alexandre Cabanel exhibited Venus, which was enthusiastically welcomed and immediately bought by Napoleon III.
Manet is a witness to modern life.
Édouard Manet, Olympia,
1863, oil on canvas, 4’3” x 6’3”, Orsay Museum, Paris
Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère,
1881-1882, oil on canvas, 3’2” x 4’3”, Courtauld Institute, London
Édouard Manet, Music in the Tuileries,
1862, oil on canvas, 2’6” x 5’11”, National Gallery, London
After Courbet, Manet painted modern subjects without idealizing them, which went against the mainstream taste of the time.
In the middle of the 19th century, the painter Courbet was not happy. At the time, art consisted of fine, impeccable images destined for the middle class. He was to revolutionise all that with his new stream of Realism.
He set out to portray reality without trying to make it more appealing and he began with his subjects: he did not try to make them more beautiful than they actually were!
It was ambitious. But, like Le Gray with the double negatives, Courbet took a new angle on a burial, with each subject posing in his studio. We are a long way off from a picture portraying reality here!
At the same time, other artists were looking in the same direction. Rosa Bonheur, for example, with her views on working in the fields.
The painter Courbet, who painted characters without idealizing them, initiated the Realist movement.
Photography was not the only image reproduction process to be perfected at the time. Artists discovered many solutions to print multiple copies of their work.
Processes such as lithography or grain wood engraving made it possible to reproduce many copies of works of art.
When Le Gray took his photo of the Grande Vague (Great Wave), it followed the first photo, taken 30 years before by Nicéphore Niépce. This was a landscape view from his window.
Niepce had left his camera on its stand without moving it for more than a day to take this picture. Fortunately, technical progress since then has made it possible to reduce the exposure time required when taking photos!
Nicéphore Niépce took the very first photo in 1827.
Exotism was first experienced by the public in 1831, when Victor Hugo published Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).
Nobody really paid attention to this cathedral, which had stood enthroned in the centre of Paris for five centuries. It was in such a bad state that the possibility of demolishing it had been envisaged, but Hugo’s novel changed everything and its restoration was entrusted to architect Viollet-le-Duc in 1844.
After 20 years of public works, the cathedral was restored to its former splendour!
19th century artists and the general public took an interest in the Middle Ages again after the publication of Victor Hugo’s novel.
Whether they were avant-garde or academic artists, they all agreed that anything Oriental is fascinating.
Before the 19th century the “Grand Tour” was a journey across Italy to Greece for the most adventurous, to discover the art of the past. But in the 19th century, artists pushed on further, reaching North Africa and the Middle East.
And they came back with sketchbooks bulging with ideas. This enthusiasm for the Orient was known as “orientalism”.
However, actually travelling out there did not seem essential to some people. They invented their own Orient, which bore no relationship to reality.
This is where our Western fantasy about harems comes from. Ingres never travelled in the East.
Western artists’ interest in the Orient is sometimes pure fantasy, bearing no relationship to reality.
This comes from military language. The avant-garde are the soldiers who go out to war first. If there are any enemies along the way, they are the first to be attacked. Only the bravest soldiers are put in this position! In the artistic sphere, avant-garde therefore describes those who are ahead of all the others, those who take risks, trying out new things. They are the opposite of academic artists, who strictly follow the codes taught in the Fine Arts School.
This is Romanticism
This is Academic Art
The avant-garde movements are the opposite of Academic art, because they try out new things, far removed from usual practice.
In terms of fame and popularity, there is one Romantic painting that outshines all the others, and it is a work by Delacroix.
Why was this painting so successful? Because it portrays an uprising of the people.
Because of its success, since it was painted, people have reimagined the work and used it in protests.
Delacroix’s well-known Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) is regularly reimagined to match contemporary events.
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