Relationship Between Realism And Impressionism

The 19th century brought about the Impressionist movement and the Parisian artists that developed their styles in opposition to the artistic ‘status quo’ in France at the time. They were specifically notorious for violating the rules of scholarly painting in not only their techniques used, but in also their change of subject matter. Realistic depictions of modern life came to the forefront, replacing the countless still life and portraits. They chose to focus heavily on effects, especially light, instead of the minute details that were deemed irrelevant to them. The Impressionists viewed their surroundings in a very different manner compared to their predecessors and through movement, composition, and the expression of light; they developed this new and fascinating manner of art. Recreating the responsiveness that the viewer observes, rather than imagining the details laid a base for what would later follow. For the longest time, The Académie served as the guide for much of the French standards in style and content when it came to paintings; portraits and works containing historical and religious elements were favored. They preferred the more realistic works, all of which contained a finer class of detail and a very muted color pallet. Around the 1860’s, various artists began venturing into the …show more content…
One of his first major works, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, which was painted in 1863, caused great controversy among many people and was rejected at the Salon of that year. Its great debate came from the nude woman featured in the center of the painting – she is accompanied by two Bohemian style students, but seems to be distracted by the audience viewing her. In the book entitled Manet, Portraying Life, the authors go on to state