French Painters and the Realist Style of Painting

Before, they were known as romantic and they sought refuge in the idealization of nature and introspection, painting single men lost in the mountains or in the sea. The solitude and the transcendental were their favourite subjects. After the French Revolution (1848), their ideas were directed elsewhere: the painters and the writers found beauty in the details of everyday things. Thus, art left the political issues to focus on the social reality, making it crude or banal, but very realistic. Whatever gained value, even a funeral.

The changes taking place in French society in the middle of the nineteenth century explain these new concerns: the bourgeoisie is the queen and poverty dominates everything.

One of the most striking paintings was “The Burial at Ornans” (1851) by Gustave Courbet (see photo above). Here, the vision of reality is very objective; the horizontal lines of the landscape and the crowd dominate the painting and they break with the verticality of the cross and the depth of the hole in the foreground. The people are sorted by type of audience: the religious on the left, the men in the middle and the women on the right. The dog symbolizes the progression of the human being. The colours want to be as faithful to real life as they can and the atmosphere too, everything is very realistic.

The painting by Jean-François Millet, “The Angelus” (1859-1860) is probably one of the best known. Salvador Dalí loved that painting, and he made many variants, two of which are in his home in Port Lligat in Catalonia Spain.

Honoré Daumier is also an important artist of this art movement. His paintings and his engravings reflect the poor reality, with those sad, dark tones, hard brushwork along with such social issues as a woman running with her child or people playing a game of chess.

In literature, Victor Hugo is the master of realism. You´ve probably read “Les Miserables“. The writer shows us the reality of northern France – a deeply cold, miserable country and concerns himself with human nature, their psychology, their reactions, their habits… Everything is open to observation. The mundane becomes sacred.

If you want to test your sense of observation, we recommend you to travel to Venice, the most romantic city in Italy. Instead of dreaming, it is better to contemplate reality as it is and it will not disappoint you. Rent Venice apartments and enjoy a comfortable stay.