Art of the 19th century

The strengthening of the influence of the bourgeoisie was formative for art in the nineteenth century. Its subjects changed correspondingly; no longer are pictures produced solely for ecclesiastic or secular clients; they were now displayed to the general populace as well. Particularly under the influence of the French July Revolution and the revolutions of 1848, patriotic feelings were growing. A further characteristic is the emancipation of avant-garde artists from the strict conventions of the academies, that towards the end of the century climaxed in the establishment of the "Salon des Réfuses". This split had however already made itself felt at the beginning of the 19th century when the first countermovements to official art were forming. In this way, romanticism formed parallel to classicism.
Its emphasis on the poetic and its preference for the national past as well as the emphasis on color for the painting technique is characteristic for this movement. Stimulated by its enthusiasm for the Middle Ages and strengthened by advancing industrialism, historicism developed in the 19th century, above all in architecture. As for painting, the artists were no longer painting their pictures in studios, but out in the open air. This "plein air" painting was not only the most significant trailblazer for impressionism, but also influenced realism, which in France showed the physically taxing work of the lower classes and for this reason is often called social "critical realism". As a counterreaction to this focus on the external world, symbolism turned instead more to the interior world of feelings and non-realistic dreams.
Symbolism can also be understood as a reaction to impressionism, however, which seeks to capture the ephemeral impression. Out of the latter, however, post-impressionism and pointillism developed towards the end of the century. Pluralism of styles in the 19th century is characteristic.

Related artists:  Barlach, Ernst  |  Baum, Paul  |  Bonnard, Pierre  |  Bürkel, Heinrich  |  Caspar-Filser, Maria  |  Cavael, Rolf  |  Chelminski, Jan  |  Compton, Edward Theodore  |  Corinth, Lovis  |  Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille  |  Daubigny, Charles-Francois  |  Defregger, Franz von  |  Diefenbach, Karl Wilhelm  |  Dill, Otto  |  Gauguin, Paul  |  Grützner, Eduard von  |  Hackert, Jacob Philipp  |  Hagemeister, Karl  |  Heine, Thomas Theodor  |  Hess, Peter von  |  Hofmann, Ludwig von  |  Israëls, Jozef  |  Jutz, Carl, the elder  |  Klee, Paul  |  Klinger, Max  |  Koester, Alexander  |  Kollwitz, Käthe  |  Kuhnert, Friedrich Wilhelm  |  Leistikow, Walter  |  Liebermann, Max  |  Manet, Edouard  |  Max, Gabriel Cornelius von  |  Menzel, Adolph von  |  Meyer von Bremen, Johann Georg  |  Modersohn, Otto  |  Mucha, Alphonse  |  Mulley, Oskar  |  Munch, Edvard  |  Oppenheimer, Max  |  Overbeck, Fritz  |  Palmié, Charles Johann  |  Paolozzi, Eduardo  |  Piloty, Karl Theodor von  |  Pippel, Otto  |  Pissarro, Camille  |  Putz, Leo  |  Raupp, Karl  |  Renoir, Pierre-Auguste  |  Repin, Ilya Yefimovich  |  Rodin, Auguste  |  Rugendas, Johann Moritz  |  Runge, Philipp Otto  |  Santomaso, Giuseppe  |  Schinkel, Karl Friedrich  |  Schleich d. J., Eduard  |  Schuch, Carl  |  Steinlen, Théophile Alexandre  |  Stuck, Franz von  |  Thoma, Hans  |  Thöny, Eduard  |  Tischbein, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm  |  Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de  |  Trübner, Wilhelm  |  Vogeler, Heinrich  |  Volkmann, Arthur  |  Wagenbauer, Max Joseph  |  Werner, Anton Alexander von  |  Wierusz-Kowalski, Alfred von  |  Wopfner, Joseph  |  Zügel, Heinrich von