Romanticism vs. Realism Artistic movements in the 19th century were direct reactions towards
(or against) political and social situations during the time. Romanticism was a movement
against the ideas of the Enlightenment that had been ingrained into European people since
the early 1700s. The Enlightenment emphasized reason and uniform ideals in the arts.
Romanticism can be seen as a direct revolt against the Enlightenment. Romantic artists
constantly strived for unique and different ideas, whereas the thinkers of the Enlightenment
valued uniformity. (Art Periods: Romanticism) Realism, in contrast to Romanticism, showed an
objective, unemotional view of the world. The goal of Realist artists was to record an
impartial view of the ideas of French society in the 19th century. The major contributor to
the development of Realism was the social and political unrest in Europe in 1848. The French
painters reacted to the three-day revolution in February of that year. At the end of the
revolution, Louis-Philippe resigned, which led to several consecutive disorganized
governments that attempted to lessen the severe unemployment problems. Realism began to
depict ordinary workers and farming communities in scenes of everyday life. The paintings
from this period are very true to life without any flourishes. (Rosenblum, pg.218) An
exceptional example of a Romantic painting is The Hay Wain by John Constable. (Rosenblum,
pg. 157-158) It is a picture that conveys the Romantic idea that nature is the embodiment of
all possible feelings. (class notes) The Hay Wain won a gold medal at the Salon of 1824 and
was innovative because of Constable's use of a palette knife to apply paint. A major
contributing factor in the genius of Constable's work is that he painted his works outside,
as a part of nature, rather than in a studio. (Rosenblum, pg.158) In this particular
painting, as well as ...