ART IN FRANCE

HERRERA, LAPIDARIO, REYES, REYNO

The French are very proud
of their culture and
heritage.
- They are a major player on the European art stage.
- Paris came to be seen as the world capital of art.
- Led the reappraisal of the meaning and purpose of
art.
France is home to over
1200 museums.
- Palace of Versailles
-Second most visited museum in France
-Known for its grand château and vast park
Musée du Louvre
-World’s largest and most visited museum
-France’s first museum
-Has a collection that spans from ancient civilization to the mid-19th
century.
Musée du Louvre
-Where Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is
located.
Imagine yourself to be walking these halls now
and seeing this sight.
Imagine yourself to be walking these halls now
and seeing this sight.
“Museums are wormholes to other worlds.”
― Jerry Saltz
Let us take you back in time...
30,000 B.C

PREHISTORY
The magnificent cave paintings
at Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in the
Ardèche
500 AD-1500 AD

MIDDLE AGES
Romanesque style
• This gave a new impulse to the art of
painting.
• Churches were decorated with frescoes and
murals.

Gothic style
MIDDLE AGES:
Romanesque
Saint Savin sur Gartempe
-The “Romanesque Sistine chapel.”
MIDDLE AGES:
Romanesque
Saint Foye Church in Conques
-The Last Judgement
 MIDDLE AGES
Gothic style
• One of the finest examples of the type of art
that emerged in this era is in the form of
stained glass.

Romanesque style
MIDDLE AGES:
Gothic
Chartres Cathedral
-Considered the high point of French Gothic art” by UNESCO
MIDDLE AGES:
Gothic
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry or
The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of
Berry
-Collection of prayers to be said at canonical
hours
1300-1600

RENAISSANCE
• Inspired by classical heritage (16th century)
RENAISSANCE:
-Cathedral of St. Cecilia, Albi
 1700-1800

17 th AND 18 th CENTURY
• It was not until the seventeenth century that French painters were
to make a major contribution to the history of art.

Baroque art
• A development from Renaissance classicism.
• Exaggerated by:
• intense light and shadow
• dramatic perspectives, and
• sometimes exuberant use of color.
17th AND 18th CENTURY
-Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice by
Nicolas Poussin
17 th AND 18 th CENTURY
-Pastoral landscape by Claude Lorrain
1700-1800

ROCOCO or
LATE BAROQUE
• A highly ornamental and theatrical style of
decoration.
• Moved from the grandeur of baroque art
towards smaller-scale and more intimate style.
ROCOCO
- The Feast of Love by Antoine Watteau
ROCOCO
- The Swing by Jean-Honoré
Fragonard

ROCOCO
- The Souvenir by Jean-Honoré
Fragonard
1800-1900

NEOCLASSICISM
• Neoclassicism was a product of the Age of the
Enlightenment.
• It turned to antiquity for aesthetic inspiration but also for
intellectual and human values.
NEOCLASSICISM
-Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David
NEOCLASSICISM
-The Princesse de Broglie (left) and Portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville
(right) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1800-1850

ROMANTICISM
• This era was all about mood and feeling, drama and
emotions instead of precision or perfection.
ROMANTICISM
- Radeau de la Méduse by Thédore Géricault
ROMANTICISM
-Liberty leading the People by Eugène Delacroix
Late 1800-Mid 1900

REALISM
• Movement in literature and art
• Form of rebellion against Romanticism
• An artistic response to social and political climate of the late 1830s
and 1840s
• Awareness of the huge gap between rich and poor
• “One must be of one’s own time.”
REALISM
-The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet
 NATURALISM
• Aimed at the the truthful representation of ordinary life, just like realism
• Is different from realism in three ways:
• Lack of political response
• Focused more on the observation of reality
• Preferred to draw outside
 NATURALISM
-All Souls Day by Jules Bastien-
Lepage
1870-1880
IMPRESSIONISM
• The term was derived from a painting of the port
of Le Havre exhibited by Claude Monet entitled
Impression soleil levant - or in English
"Impression, sunrise"
IMPRESSIONISM
-View of l'Estaque by Paul Cézanne
IMPRESSIONISM
-Luncheon on the Boating Party by Auguste Renoir
IMPRESSIONISM
-The Dance Class by Edgar Degas
1884-1900

POINTILLISM
• Incorporates the use of dots of contrasting
color.
• Very time consuming
• By the Mediterranean by Henri Cross
POINTILLISM
-The Papal Palace Avignon by Paul
Signac
 POST-IMPRESSIONISM
• Pointillism caught the attention of artists such as Vincent Van Gogh.
• He experimented with this style until he has developed his own style
of painting where there is a sense of movement and vibration with the
use of bold brushstrokes.
 INTIMIST
• Inspired by the light and color of Impressionism and
Japanese Art
• La Balayeuse or The Sweeper by Edouard Vuillard
 1905-1908

FAUVISM
• Emphasizes the use of strong color
• Le pont de château by Maurice de Vlaminck
1905-1908

CUBISM
• Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso opened the
gates for cubism
• Uses geometric planes and shapes
• Violin and Candlestick (left) by Braque
• Girl with mandolin (right) by Picasso
That ends our journey to the
history of art in France.

Welcome back to the present.

 SOURCES:
• French Art and Culture https://about-france.com/art-culture.htm and https://about-
france.com/art/history-of-art.htm
• Must-See Art Guide: Paris https://news.artnet.com/art-world/paris-art-guide-october-2016-
710756
• The Burgeoning Paris Art Scene, Explained by Five of Its Tastemakers
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-paris-art-scene-explained-703418
• Top 10 Must See Art in Paris https://oilandmarble.com/2015/09/02/top-10-must-see-art-in-paris/
• Exploring the Underground Art Scene in Paris https://suitcasemag.com/travel/explore/paris-
underground-art-scene/
• Realism and Naturalism
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/realism-
and-naturalism
• Realism Example
• http://www.gustave-courbet.com/the-stonebreakers.jsp
• Louvre Museum
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Louvre-Museum
• Palace of Versailles
• https://frenchmoments.eu/versailles-yvelines/
• Top ten most visited museums in france https://frenchmoments.eu/top-10-most-visited-
museums-in-france/
• https://about-france.com/art/pointillism-to-cubism.htm