The Barbizon School

The Barbizon School

Artistic Movements, Periods and Styles in 5 Points

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The Barbizon School

• A group of French artists who, approximately between 1830 and 1870, settled in the village of Barbizon (Fointainebleau forest) to get away from Paris and the “system.”
• Influenced by Constable and his rural scenes, these artists abandoned formalism and academicism to draw inspiration directly from nature. The idea is not to paint according to the canons of beauty imposed by academic teaching, but to have what is called “direct experience.”
• The artists of this school painted from nature, in the open air (called “en plein air” or “plenairism”). Thus, they studied the fleeting effects of light and atmospheric effects on the things around them.
• The paintings were realistic and romantic. Usually, when we refer in art to something romantic, its main characteristic is that it is idealized. The favorite themes were the landscapes and rural scenes.
• Their innovative techniques and studies were a crucial influence on the birth of Impressionism, and with it, a new stage in the history of painting: it was no longer only about showing nature, but showing how it was perceived, and how it changed all the time with the changes of light and atmospheric conditions.

Representative Artists: Corot, Courbet, Théodore Rousseau, Millet, Daubigny.

Image: The Gleaners (Des glaneuses)  (1857). Millet.

Recommended links:

Fundamental Painters of the Barbizon School.

The direct experience and its importance for modern art.

Artistic Movements II: from Neoclassicism till the end of the 19th century.

Plein Air Painting.

Millet and his Peasants.

The Hay Wain (1821), John Constable.

When does Modern Art Start?

Impressionism.

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