Naturalist painting both supported the State, and attacked it – sometimes so much that works had to be suppressed. The real history of art at the end of the 19th century.
Krohg
From Dante Gabriel Rossetti, through Lovis Corinth, to Alphonse Mucha and Christian Krohg – modern masterpieces.
Unlike Impressionism, which spread relatively slowly, Naturalism was prominent in the Salon, so spread across Europe and North America like wildfire.
The very large Paris Salon of 1883 introduced the public and critics to a new and growing movement in painting. It wasn’t Impressionism or Post-Impressionism, though.
His breakthrough came in 1884, with the first of a series of social realist paintings. It was a hard life in the Danish countryside, and death is never far away.
By the end of the war, he suffered worsening bouts of heavy drinking. He continued to paint, including telling his life story, both past and future.
His paintings were praised by Edvard Munch himself. Tackling themes such as prostitution and alcoholism, they are important works.
Known only now for his poster for Tuborg beer, he was a Naturalist not afraid to campaign with his paintings against social injustice.
Spring is here, in the UK the season of umbrellas. Here are paintings by Caillebotte, Krohg, Degas, Renoir, and others showing umbrellas used to shelter from the rain.
Did the sewing machine liberate, subjugate, or was it the start of the road to corruption? Contrasting paintings of its impact on women (and men).
The Eclectic Light Company 