modern art history bold terms and definitions

Rococo

a decorative, light, and playful style of 18th-century art and design that emphasized grace and ornate beauty, contrasting with the seriousness and grandeur of Baroque

Enlightenment

An 18th-century movement that valued reason, science, and learning. In art, it led to clear, balanced styles (like Neoclassicism) and subjects that taught moral or civic lessons

Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture est 1648 - Ecole des beaux arts 1795 (French)

Royal Academy (London)

State sponsored institutions that offered art classes and held annual exhibitions

1789 French Revolution

A major uprising in France that overthrew the monarchy, challenged old social and political systems, and promoted ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. It also reshaped art, favoring Neoclassicism's clarity and moral seriousness over the playful Rococo style

Hierarchy of Genres

1. history painting

2. portraits

3. genre painting

4. landscape

5. still life

Salon

exhibitions happened in these rooms, set artistic standards, promoted certain styles, and later became a symbol of tradition that many modern artists rebelled against

Neoclassicism

the revival of a classical style or treatment in art, literature, architecture, or music.

History Painting

The highest-ranking genre in the Academy's hierarchy of art. It showed stories from history, mythology, the Bible, or great events, usually with moral or heroic lessons.

Jacques-Louis David, "Proposal for a monument to the French People" 1793

A design (never built) that used Neoclassical style to honor the French people and Revolutionary ideals instead of kings

Romanticism

A late 18th-19th century art movement that emphasized emotion, imagination, nature, and individual experience, often reacting against the order and reason of Neoclassicism

Orientalism

A 19th-century style in Western art that depicted the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia in exotic, often stereotyped ways—reflecting European colonial attitudes more than real cultures

Picturesque

A style of beauty that is irregular, varied, and charming—like a scene that looks paintable, somewhere between the smooth, beautiful, and the overwhelming sublime

Sublime

Of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe

1855 International Exposition in Paris

A world's fair organized by Napoleon III to showcase modern industry and art, famous for displaying Ingres and Delacroix and marking the first major exhibition of contemporary artists.

Courbet's Pavilion of Realism

A private exhibition, Gustave Courbet set up beside the Paris International Exposition after the jury rejected some of his works, including The Painter's Studio. He showed 40 of his paintings, making a bold statement for Realism and against the official art system.

1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition, London

The first world's fair, held in a giant glass-and-iron building in Hyde Park, to showcase new inventions, industry, and art from around the world

1855 International Exposition, Paris

a world's fair organized by Napoleon III to display modern industry and art, remembered for its Fine Arts Pavilion that highlighted the rivalry between Ingres (classicism) and Delacroix (romanticism), and for Courbet's independent Pavilion of Realism.

1867 International Exposition, Paris

world's fair hosted by Napoleon III that presented global industry, technology, and culture, with art displays that included a large retrospective of Édouard Manet and reinforced Paris as the center of modern art.

Salon des Refusés

a special exhibition ordered by Napoleon III to show paintings rejected from the official Salon jury, most famously including works by Édouard Manet.

Baudelaire, "Painter of Modern Life" 1863

An essay where the poet Charles Baudelaire argued that modern art should capture the fleeting, everyday experiences of contemporary urban life, not just timeless ideals.

Flaneur

Stroller, loafter

Department Stores

new retail spaces that used architecture, display, and spectacle to turn shopping into a modern urban experience.

Haussmannization

the modernization of Paris through wide streets and urban renewal, transforming the city into the model of modern urban life.

Daguerreotype

The first practical photograph, sharp and clear, was made on a metal surface.

avant-garde

Artists or movements that break away from tradition and push forward with radical, innovative ideas.

Modernity

the experience of living in a fast-changing, urban, industrial world, especially in 19th-century Paris.

8 Impressionist exhibitions 1874-1886

Between 1874 and 1886, painters held 8 group exhibitions in Paris to display their new style of capturing light, color, and modern life outside the official Salon.