Early cave paintings around the world depict animals such as bison, wild cattle, horses and deer. These paintings were made using charcoal and other organic materials over thirty thousand years ago. While the reason is still unclear, these paintings most likely signify daily chases early man took part in (historyworld.net). Since then, artists have used paintings to represent and respond to many ideas throughout history. Passionate, dramatic and complex paintings, such as “The Colossus” by Francisco Goya of the Romanticism movement characterized the early nineteenth century. A struggling political and social time in the Romanticism movement sparked a need in artists to document the ordinary world instead of grandiose and dramatic scenes, and the Realism movement began. This movement developed and popularized these depictions of scenes from the ordinary world without any flourish, as seen by Honoré Daumier with “The Third-Class Carriage”. Realism originated as a reaction to the social and political characteristics of the Romanticism movement, as seen in various literary works, impacted the art world greatly.
The late eighteenth century began the Romanticism movement, which prevailed as the dominate artistic movement through the nineteenth century. It directly revolted against the Enlightenment period, by “challenging the excessive rationalism” and “stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience” and came about as a result of the effects of the French Revolution. Prior to the revolution, there was little or no creative expression and freedom of speech in Monarchy controlled areas (newworldencyclopedia.org). After the revolution, which included the collapse of such Monarch rulers, a new, dramatic sentiment emerged: Artist's were freed from oppressive restrictions and were now able to express their emotions. Romanticism focused on severe emotions such as horror, dread, and terror, and artists strove to create scenes which evoked such emotions from viewers. Artists of this period were “fascinated by the nature, the genius, their passions, inner struggles, their moods, mental potentials and heroes” (arthistoryarchive.com) and delved into the study of dreams, folklore, and spirituality; how one person viewed any given scene or object was completely subjective. This fascination led artists to create scenes that were creative, highly detailed, and exaggerated. Rather than focus on reason and rationality, Romanticism focused more on emotions and feelings to explain and portray them.
The Realist Movement emerged in France in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and lasted until 1880, and focused on portraying objective, everyday, ordinary scenes without flourish (frontpainting.com). The Industrial Revolution produced unstable political times, as well as a shift in the working class. The Industrial Revolution created factories to increase production which in turn caused an increase in unemployment. Farmers had machines to plow fields, and no longer needed laborers to do the work by hand. Skilled laborers became inferior to the new machines that performed their job in half the time. Such laborers moved on to the cities to try to find work in one of the new factories being built, resulting in underpayment, harsh working conditions, and unfathomable living conditions (newworldencyclopedia.com). Artists, seeing the extreme and devastating effects of the widespread poverty, began painting scenes of exactly that. No omission or editing of unfavorable values were portrayed; Instead, the raw, objective view of life in this time inspired Realists.
The differences between Romanticism and Realism art can be contributed to the social and political effects during each movement's respective time periods. While both movements feature freedom of expression in their works, the focus of their expression varies greatly. Romanticism artists chose to emphasize their newly granted freedom of expression through grand, surreal, and exaggerated works, showcasing larger-than-life subjects and drawing from imaginative environments. This is evident in “The Colossus” by Francisco Goya (art.com). This painting epitomizes the characteristic of Romanticism. The focus of the painting is the massive giant-unearthly and grandiose amongst swirling clouds towering over a terrified village while animals and humans alike seem to be fleeing for their safety. It is obvious that the painting is to symbolize the oppressive nature Goya undoubtedly experienced under the strict ruling of a Monarchy.
Realist artists chose to focus their freedom of expression on the day-to-day life of impoverished workers after the Industrial Revolution. Concentrating on the ordinary, Realist artists embodied true-to-life portrayals of life during their time. One such artist to exhibit this was Honoré Daumier with his painting, “The Third-Class Carriage” (art.com). This painting is straightforwardly characteristic of Realist art. This scene evokes emotion simply by capturing the daily life of the toll poverty has taken on citizens. The painting is not traditionally aesthetic, as one would see from a Romantic artist-there is nothing of the sublime nor transcendental nature. Instead, it highlights a common occurrence in the Industrial Revolution-many passengers, too poor to afford better seats, packed into a carriage, most likely traveling to or from work in a factory which implemented twelve to sixteen hour days, with unsafe working conditions and little monetary reward for laborers (Path Not Taken : French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution). While “The Colossus” shows the emotional reaction to the caste system before the French Revolution, using dramatic techniques, Daumier, rejecting such techniques, succeed in proving that even without the use of exaggeration and exorbitance, ordinary, day-to-day life is a worthy subject of art as seen in “The Third-Class Carriage”.
Through understanding the socioeconomic issues present during the Realism movement, is is evident Realist artists have had a tremendous impact on the art world. Realist artists in mid-nineteenth century France dismissed traditional Romanticism values, and forced artists as well as viewers to examine the social and economic conditions and effects of the Industrial Revolution. Urbanized laborers sharing crowded rooms in unhealthy, destitute conditions suddenly became acceptable subjects for art, and allowed