Realism vs. Impressionism

            During the romantic period, art was becoming more diverse with many different styles populating in this era. Different art styles would depict artists different preferences, beliefs and knowledge of art itself. The are styles from this era that we will explore is realism and impressionism. Although both of these styles were very popular at the time, they are very different from each other.

Realism tended to represent ordinary people, doing ordinary things. The entire concept of realism was portraying something that was real. This resulted in paintings that looked like photographs of everyday life. The harsh, sharp lines and shadowing would create a story around a moral subject. This allows us to look back into the lives of those from the time period. The authentic appeal of these paintings makes them my favorite style from the era. When looking at the painting “Song of the Lark,” by Jules Breton, the woman’s emotion is read on her face as she stands in a field ready to work at sunrise. Nothing about this woman is hidden.  With realism, artists were also able to bring attention to social inequality. For the painting, “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” Ilya Repin, painted a depiction of the lower class. In this painting, a group lower classed men are hauling a boat, the expressions on the men’s faces are emotionless, almost dead, appearing dark compared to the bright scenery around them. However, a boy in the group appears lit up with a confused look on his face. This painting was showing the struggle the lower class goes through with the boy being a symbol of hope that the struggle may one day end (theartstory). The amazing attention to detail in the painting really tells the story itself.

With the sharp details and picture-perfect representation that is brought from realism, its easy to see why impressionism is a conflicting style. Impressionism is art that has soft brush strokes and bright colors. Impressionism paintings appear like a dream, colors and objects are blended smoothly making the environment blurry and hard to understand. Art critic, Louis Leroy described the style to be unfinished, which I honestly agree in some ways (Khan Academy).  The lack of detail makes the paintings have a smudge or erased effect. Although the blurred details in this style were not my favorite, I do enjoy the soft, bright colors that most impressionism paintings held. For the majority of impressionism paintings, a peaceful setting was created with lighter colors that strayed away from dark shadowing for detail. In Claude Monet’s painting, “Woman with Parasol,” soft blue, green and tans were used to create a picture of a woman carrying an umbrella with a young boy behind her. The cool tones and soft skies made this painting bring a calm sensation over me.

References

A beginner’s guide to Impressionism. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/a/a-beginners-guide-to-impressionism\

Realism Movement Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/movement-realism.htm