Learning outcomes:
This course has been designed to enable you to:
- Recognise characteristics of some key 19th century styles of French art.
- Describe works of art studied on the course.
Course sessions:
1. Courbet and Manet: Realism and the modern city
We begin by looking at a large-scale painting by Paul Delaroche, whose works were popular in France during the early decades of the 19th century. The size, subject matter and technique of Delaroche’s painting conform largely to the established standards of Salon paintings – the Salons being the official exhibitions organised by the Académie Royale.
To a significant degree, both Courbet and Manet deliberately departed from academic conventions, although some of their works were still accepted for the Salon. Their paintings were seen by many as shocking not least because they dealt with lowly themes such as prostitution yet often afforded such subject matter a monumental scale of the type traditionally reserved for elevating subjects such as those representing stories from the Bible or mythology. This session considers some of the ways in which Courbet’s and Manet’s paintings might be seen as conforming to Charles Baudelaire’s recommendation that modern artists should represent the heroism of modern life not that of the past.
2. Monet, Renoir and Morisot: Painting modern life
While painting en plein air (outdoors) was not the credo for all Impressionist artists, Monet, Renoir and Morisot all experienced painting outdoors in varying degrees. As a result, their finished work was generally likened to the preparatory sketches made for highly finished, academic works. Even those Impressionist works not made outdoors appeared incomplete by traditional standards.
Focusing on work by Monet, Renoir and Morisot, today’s sessions consider audacious experimentation, how the depiction of informal conviviality belies careful orchestration and how, in the case of Morisot’s work, a painting might not be concerned only with the world of appearances but might also indicate some degree of interiority.
3. Seurat: Neo-Impressionism
When he painted Bathers at Asnières in 1884, Seurat depicted a familiar Impressionist motif – a contemporary scene of everyday life on the banks of the Seine - but the monumental scale he chose (201 x 300 cm) contrasted with the often portable size of Impressionist works. His painting technique conformed neither to academic conventions nor wholly to Impressionist approaches. It was Seurat’s intention to show his Bathers in the Salon that year, but it was rejected by the Salon jury.
During the 1880s, avant-garde artists like Seurat were taking Impressionist experimentation with colour and technique in new directions. Rejection for many artists from the official Salon led to the creation of an alternative, jury-free Salon des Artistes Indépendants which is where Seurat showed his painting. Today’s presentations consider how his painting extends pictorial methods developed by the Impressionists.
4. Gauguin: Symbolism and new visions
Gauguin, like many of his avant-garde peers, claimed to reject industrialisation and city life. Relocating from Paris to Brittany, he sought a simpler life and low outgoings. Here he hoped to discover religious rituals and lifestyles unspoilt by modern advances and, crucially, to discover appealing motifs for the Parisian art market.
His preconceptions of both Brittany and Tahiti were largely informed by literature and travel guides and he was often disappointed by the reality, but Gauguin’s paintings were artistic reconstructions of the places and people, not a description of what he found. Today’s sessions introduce Gauguin’s use of new painting subjects and consider how he moved away from naturalistic representation to explore ways of conveying direct expression, using colour and innovative techniques.
5. Van Gogh: Japan and the south of France
When Japan’s art and culture was introduced to western Europeans in the 1850s, it generated a rush of enthusiasm amongst collectors and modern artists including the Impressionists, Gauguin and van Gogh. Inspired by Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin, and armed with his knowledge of French Impressionism and a close study of Japanese woodblock prints, van Gogh’s work focused on the physicality of paint, using heightened and non-naturalistic colours. His bold, idiosyncratic brush marks and often, strong colours overturned conventional concerns for high illusion and perspective.
In a letter written to his brother, Theo in 1888, van Gogh wrote, ‘instead of trying to render exactly what I have before my eyes, I use colour more arbitrarily in order to express myself forcefully.’ In this session, we consider Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889 (Courtauld). We consider how van Gogh used colour as a means to convey, rather than illustrate, emotions and we think briefly about some of the ways in which Japanese prints led him to these discoveries.
Our final session of the week looks back over the course to think about some of the ideas we’ve considered.
Non-credit bearing
Please note that our Virtual Summer Festival of Learning courses are non-credit bearing.
Certificate of Participation
A certificate of participation will be sent to you electronically within a week of your Summer Festival course(s) finishing.
