The Industrial Revolution and the Arts

1380 Words3 Pages

In the late 18th century, many countries were slowly being transformed into industrialized places; cities were getting bigger, industries were growing everywhere and many technologies like steam engines were appearing. This phenomenon called the Industrial Revolution first started in England and then spread to France and Germany. Industrialization helped in the development of society, the economy and at some point, art, but it also left behind a devastated society. In fact, the Industrial Revolution was a great inspiration for artists who lived in that time. For instance, the impressionist French artist Claude Monet painted La Gare de Saint-Lazare (1877) at the beginning of the revolution. Adolph Menzel, a German realist painter, also depicted the revolution with his painting The Iron Rolling Mill (1875) and William Blake, a British romantic artist, wrote a poem named “London” (1794) in which the main theme is the revolution. Although they are all from a different cultural movements, including Impressionism, Realism and Romanticism, they all depict the effects of the industrial revolution with a pessimistic view.
The Impressionist movement began in 1874 in Paris created by, among others, Claude Monet. The movement took place during the industrialization that started around 1850 in France. The impressionist painters liked to paint everyday life scenes like Parisian leisure time and modern life activities. They painted scenes of people, mostly the bourgeois, in cafes, theaters and concerts (Janson 706). In other words, the artists found their inspiration in daily outdoor scenes. The Impressionist movement attempted to change the painting convention created by the art academy and including modern life was one of the characteristics ...

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...give an impression of oppression and pessimism.

Works Cited

Blake, William. “London” Literary Themes Coursepack, Ed. Stephen P. Adamian. Quebec : Cegep Champlain St-Lawrence 2013.
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Finocchio, Ross. "Nineteenth–Century French Realism" In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. 2000. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 12 Mar., 2014.
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Janson, Harry W. History of Art. 5th Ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. Print.
Rioux, Jean-Pierre. La revolution industrielle 1780-1880. Paris: Seuil, 1971. Print.
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Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet ou le Triomphe de l’Impressionisme. Paris: Taschen Wildenstein Institute, 2003. Print.

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