Realism to Impressionism

Realism emerged in France in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1848 that overturned the monarchy of Louis-Philippe and developed during the period of the Second Empire under Napoleon III. The Realists democratised art by depicting modern subjects drawn from the everyday lives of the working class. Courbet (1819–1877) established himself as the leading proponent of Realism by challenging the primacy of history painting, long favoured at the official Salons. ‘Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things’ (Gustave Courbet). Realists recorded in often gritty detail the present-day existence of humble people both in the city or, as with Millet, in the countryside. The primary exponents of Realism were Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-François Millet, Jean-François Raffaelli and Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau. The Matthiesen Gallery has handled major works by all these artists.