Neoclassicism emerged in the late 18th century as a rejection of the Rococo style. It featured harsh lines, subdued palettes, and classical subject matter. Jacques-Louis David was a leading Neoclassical painter who used themes like Napoleon's rule to promote ideals. Romanticism emerged alongside Neoclassicism and emphasized emotion and virtuosity over restraint. Realism and Impressionism developed in the 19th century, focusing on everyday subjects painted outdoors with light and color effects. Post-Impressionists like Van Gogh and Gauguin coordinated line, color, and symbolism in more experimental styles that influenced later movements.

1. ARH 151 Chapter 19 GuideNeoclassicism
· Modern art declared its opposition to the whimsy of the late
Rococo style with Neoclassical art of the late 18th and early
19th centuries.
· Neoclassical art contained:
· harsh sculptural lines.
· a subdued palette.
· planar recession.
· Classical (especially Roman) subject matter.
· Neoclassical painters, such as Jacques-Louis David, were
referred to as Poussinistes, for they embraced the linear,
systematic approach of Nicolas Poussin. Jacques-Louis David
1 - Fig. 19.1 Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii
(1784). Oil on canvas, 11’ x 14’.
· David was the preeminent Neoclassical painter in France.
· This painting, which features a Roman subject, was viewed by
the French public as a call for revolution. Ever the opportunist,
David joined the fight in 1789.Angelica Kauffman
2 - Fig. 19.2 Angelica Kauffman, The Artist in the Character of
Design Listening to the Inspiration of Poetry (1782). Oil on
canvas, D: 24”.
· Female artist Angelica Kauffman carried the Neoclassical
style to England.
· Notice the Classical columns, costume, and subject
matter.Neoclassicism: Art As Propaganda
· Napoleon solidified his rule by commissioning artists, like
David, to paint his portrait in a Neoclassical style. (See Fig.
21.44).
· The emperor’s sister (Pauline Borghese) had herself portrayed
as the Greco-Roman goddess Venus. Notice the strong contours
and the frigid rendering of the reclining female.

2. 3 - Fig. 21.44 Jacques-Louis David, Napoléon Crossing the Alps
(1800). Oil on canvas, 8’ 10” x 7’ 7”.
4 - Fig. 19.3 Antonio Canova, Pauline Borghese as Venus
(1808). Marble, life-sized. Romanticism
· Both Neoclassicism and Romanticism reflected the
revolutionary spirit of the times.
· While Neoclassicism emphasized restraint of emotion, purity
of form, and subjects that inspired morality, Romantic artists
sought:
· extremes of emotion.
· virtuoso brushwork.
· a brilliant palette.
· Romantic artists, such as Géricault and Delacroix, were
dubbed Rubenistes, for they embraced the painterly, emotive art
of Peter Paul Rubens. Théodore Géricault & Eugène Delacroix
· Refers to contemporary shipwreck off the African coast (Fig.
19.4)
· Abolitionist sentiment
· Reference to Byron’s poem about ancient Assyrian king
Sardanapalus (Fig. 19.5)
5 - Fig. 19.4 Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa (1818-
1819). Oil on canvas, 16’ x 23’.
6 - Fig. 19.5 Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus
(1826). Oil on canvas, 12’ 11 1/2” x 16’ 3”. Louvre Museum,
Paris, France. Francisco Goya
7 - Fig. 19.6 Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808 (1814-
1815). Oil on canvas, 8’ 9” x 13’ 4”.
· Spanish artist Goya depicts massacre of Spanish civilians by
Napoleonic troops in Madrid
· Tragic subject, fluid brushwork, symbolism of color and
lineCompare & Contrast: The Odalisques
· Some European artists traveled to Africa and the Middle East

3. in the 19th century. This exposure to and fascination with the
East (known as Orientalism) impacted the development of
Western art in the 19th century.
· The stylistic differences between Ingres’ and Delacroix’s
paintings of odalisques are indicative of the
Neoclassical/Romantic divide.
8 - Fig. 19.7 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque
(1814). Oil on canvas, 35 1/4” x 63 3/4”.
9 - Fig. 19.8 Eugène Delacroix, Odalisque (1845-1850). Oil on
canvas, 14 7/8” x 18 1/4”. The Academy
10 - Fig. 19.9 Adolphe William Bouguereau, Nymphs and Satyrs
(1873). Oil on canvas, 102 3/8” x 70 7/8”.
· The style of art with the least impact on the development of
modern art was the most popular type of painting in its day.
· Academic art derived its style and subject matter from
conventions established by the Royal Academy of Painting and
Sculpture in Paris.
· Established in 1648, the Academy maintained a firm grip on
artistic production for more than two centuries. Realism
· The “modern” painters of the 19th century objected to
Academic art because the subject matter did not represent real
life and because the manner in which the subjects were rendered
did not reflect reality as it was observed by the naked eye.
· Realist artists chose to depict subjects that were evident in
everyday life, using an optical approach—rather than a
conceptual approach—to rendering subjects. Gustave Courbet
11 - Fig. 19.11 Gustave Courbet, The Stone-Breakers (1849).
Oil on canvas, 63” x 102”. Formerly Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (destroyed in World War II).
· Set up the Pavilion of Realism (1855)
· Depicts lower-class workers on large-scaleÉdouard Manet
· Naked woman seated in a Parisian park among men (Fig

4. 19.12)
· Lacks the traditional glossy and realistic finish associated
with academic art
· Parisian prostitute stares boldly at the viewer (Fig 19.14)
· Lacks academic modeling, tonal gradations, and subject matter
12 - Fig. 19.12 Édouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe
(Luncheon on the Grass) (1863). Oil on canvas, 7’ x 8’ 1”.
13 - Fig. 19.14 Édouard Manet, Olympia (1863-1865). Oil on
canvas, 51 3/8” x 74 3/4”. Japonisme
· The opening of trade between Japan and the West in the mid-
19th century led to Japanese woodblock prints flowing into
Paris and other cities.
· Some European artists collected Japanese works. This
exposure to and fascination with Japanese art (known as
japonisme) impacted the development of modern art in the late
19th century and early 20th century.
14 - Fig. 19.45 Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off
Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave) (Edo period, c.
1837). Polychrome woodblock print.
15 - Fig. 19.46 Ando Hiroshige, Sudden Shower over Shin-
Ōhashi Bridge and Atake (1857). Color woodblock
print. Impressionism
· Impressionist artists reacted against the constraints of
Academic style and subject matter.
· They advocated painting outdoors (en plein air) and chose to
render subjects found in nature.
· They studied the dramatic effects of atmosphere and light on
people and objects.
· Using a varied palette of colors, they captured the actual
colors—or local colors—of objects under different lighting
conditions.
· Impressionist painters juxtaposed:

5. · complementary colors to reproduce the optical vibrations of
looking at objects in full sunlight.
· primary colors to produce, in the eye of the spectator,
secondary colors.
· Some scholars argue that both photography and Japanese
prints had an impact on Impressionist compositions (i.e.,
cropping, high vantage point). Claude Monet
16 - Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1872). Musée
Marmottan, Paris.
17 - Fig. 19.19 Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral (1894). Oil on
canvas, 39 1/4” x 25 7/8”. Pierre Auguste Renoir & Berthe
Morisot
· Modern leisure activities of the bourgeoisie (Fig. 19.20)
· Effects of light on surfaces
· Female artists were often relegated to painting women and
interiors (Fig 19.21)
18 - Fig. 19.20 Pierre Auguste Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette
(1876). Oil on canvas, 51 1/2” x 69”.
19 - Fig. 19.21 Berthe Morisot, Young Girl by the Window
(1878). Oil on canvas, 29 15/16” x 24”. Post-Impressionism
· The Post-Impressionists of the late 19th century were drawn
together by their rebellion against what they considered the
Impressionists’ excessive concern for fleeting impressions and a
disregard for traditional compositional elements.
· Post-Impressionists fell into two groups that parallel the
stylistic polarities of the Baroque and the
Neoclassical/Romantic periods.
· The works of Georges Seurat and Paul Cézanne maintained a
more systematic approach to compositional structure,
brushwork, and color.
· The works of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin coordinated
line and color with symbolism and emotion. Georges Seurat

6. 20 - Fig. 19.23 Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the
Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886). Oil on canvas, 81” x 120
3/8”.
· Conventional Realist/Impressionist subject
· Pointillist technique: application of tiny dots of pure color
(based on scientific color theory) to create formPaul Cézanne
· Traditional subject matter (landscape and still-life), but avant-
garde approach to representation through:
· geometrization of nature.
· abandonment of scientific perspective.
· rendering of multiple views.
· emphasis on the two-dimensional surface of the canvas.
21 - Fig. 3.14 Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from
Bibemus Quarry (c. 1897).
22 - Fig. 19.24 Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Basket of Apples
(c. 1895). Vincent van Gogh
· View from asylum window (Fig. 19.25)
· Notice expressive, swirling brushwork, thick impasto, and
color contrasts
· Self-portrait in Arles (Fig. 19.26)
· Notice visible brushstrokes, vibrant color, and Japanese print
on wall
23 - Fig. 19.25 Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night (1889). Oil on
canvas, 29” x 36 1/4”.
24 - Fig. 19.26 Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged
Ear (1889-1990). Oil on canvas, 23 5/8” x 19 1/4”.Paul Gauguin
· In Brittany to escape urban life (Fig (19.27)
· Uses arbitrary colors that emphasize flatness of picture plane
· In Tahiti to find “primitive” life (Fig. 19.15)
· Transforms tradition of reclining female nude

7. 25 - Fig. 19.27 Paul Gauguin, Vision after the Sermon (Jacob
Wrestling with the Angel) (1888). Oil on canvas, 28 3/4” x 36
1/2”.
26 - Fig. 19.15 Paul Gauguin, Te Arii Vahine (The Noble
Woman) (1896). Oil on canvas, 38 3/16” x 51
3/16”. Expressionism
27 - Fig. 19.29 Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893). Casein on
paper, 35 1/2” x 28 2/3”.
· In their vibrant palettes and bravura brushwork, van Gogh and
Gauguin foreshadowed Expressionism.
· Expressionism is the distortion of nature—as opposed to the
imitation of nature—to achieve a desired emotional effect.
· Edvard Munch expressed feelings of despair by simplifying
forms, heightening color contrasts, and leaving visible
marks. Primitivism
· European artists saw African, Oceanic, and Iberian sculpture
in private collections or public ethnographic museums in Paris
and other cities.
· This exposure to and fascination with non-Western art forms
and principles (known as primitivism) impacted the
development of modern art in the late 19th and early 20th
century.
28 - Fig. 19.42 Ancestral couple, Dogon, Mali (c. 1800-1850).
Wood, 2’ 4” high.
29 - Fig. 19.52 Uli statue, from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
(18th or early 19th century). Wood, ocher, and charcoal; 4’ 11
1/8” high.
30 - Fig. 20.8 Mask, Etumbi region, Republic of Congo. Wood,
14” high. Birth of Modern Sculpture
31 - Fig. 19.36 Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais (1884-

8. 1895). Bronze, 79 3/8” x 77 1/8”.
· One 19th-century sculptor, Auguste Rodin, changed the course
of the history of sculpture by applying principles of modern
painting in his work.
· Rodin included in his sculptures a newfound realism of subject
and technique, a more fluid or impressionistic handling of the
medium, and a new treatment of space. Please close this link to
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