Realism and Naturalism (1830 - 1870)

Realism was a cultural movement that appeared in 1830’s France. Realism appeared as a counter-reaction to the dominating movement of the 19th century, Romanticism. Realism as an artistic view wanted a dimming of the human emotions and depicting more of the contemporary people, the contemporary emotions, and current situations. Realism also opposed the historic painting.

The leader of the realism movement in France was the painter Gustave Courbet (1819 – 1877) and by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796 – 1875).

This movement was further continued with the Naturalism movement, and finally, the Impressionism movement appeared.

Realism is strongly intertwined with another artistic movement: Naturalism, although Naturalism is a sub-division of realism, the two are not the same. The main difference between Naturalism and Realism was the fact that while both were opposed to the artistic ideas of Romanticism, naturalism focused more on the cultural side and less on the political dimension that sometimes Realism would involve.

Both Realism and Naturalism focus their protagonist on more common, mondain people or events contrary to the idea of the main character, a “hero” in Romanticism literature.

Naturalist movement literature are greatly represented by: Emile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert.

Realism and Naturalism both in paintings and in literature can be summarized as objective reality, presenting mundane activities of the middle or lower class of society. Realism and Naturalism eliminate the dramatization or the idealization that was specific to the Romanticism art movement.