On Monday, we continued our investigation of 19th-century revolutions in painting by looking at the subject matter that the Impressionists chose to paint, and how these subjects were a radical departure from several centuries' of French (academic) tradition. We also saw how these subjects reflected the rapidly-changing modern world of the second half of the 19th century.
In today's visit, we're going to examine how the style of the Impressionists was equally revolutionary, and another departure from longstanding tradition. As was the case for their subject matter, the way the Impressionists painted -- a "painterly" style with large, thick, visible brushstrokes -- was a reaction to modernity, and specifically, the invention of photography.
As usual, one quick note: the primary venue for this content is the stories feature on my Instagram page. All of the virtual visits will be saved in my story highlights. The purpose of the blog posts is to allow a greater audience (especially those without social media accounts) to benefit from the same content.
With that in mind, let's look at some paint!
We've now reached the end of our in-depth examination of 19th-century France (at least for the time being). Beginning on Friday, we'll have a special series dedicated to the history and future of Notre-Dame de Paris. I've planned these visits to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the devastating fire at the cathedral that occurred on April 15th, 2019. The series will focus on the history of Gothic architecture more broadly and the history of Cathedral of Paris more specifically. The goal is for us to understand how and why the cathedral survived the fire, and what we might expect for the building's future as restoration efforts get under way.
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