During the first half of the 1800s, artists focused on ideas of freedom, the
rights of individuals and an idealistic view of history. In the later 1800s, political focus shifted to leaders who practiced "realpolitik", meaning realistic politics. Similarly, intellectuals and artists expressed a "realistic" view of the world. In this view, the upper classes pursued their interests, while ordinary people suffered. Newly invented photography became both a way to detail this struggle and a tool for scientific investigation. We first discussed the new movement of Romanticism. Jaydn remarked this was very "dramatic" and she is correct. It reflected a deep interest in both in nature and the thoughts and feelings of the individual. In many ways, Romantic thinkers, writers and artists were reacting against the ideas of the Enlightenment. They turned from reason to emotion, from society to nature. Emotion, sometimes intense emotion was a key element of Romanticism. Poetry, literature, music and painting were all impacted by Romantic artists. French author Victor Hugo's works, "Les Miserables" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are exmples of Romantic literature. Interestingly, during this period, Gothic horror stories became hugely popular. These novels often took place in medieval Gothic castles. One of the earliest Gothic novels was "Frankenstein," written by Mary Shelley. Even the musical compositions of Beethoven changed from Enlightened to Romantic forms of expression. Another new art form was Realism, wich tried to show life as it was, not as it should be. Industrialization had a huge impact in Realism on painting and literature. Also, with the new invention of photography, photographers are capturing real life images for the first time in history - as they happened. Beginning in the 1860s, a group of painters in Paris reacted against the realistic style. Instead of showing life as it really was, they tried to show their impression of a subject in a moment or time. They glorified in the delights of the life of the rising middle class. Famed artists, Monet, Degas, and Renoir were leaders of impressionistic painting. We viewed examples of their works. We then worked on completing notes on the Revolutions in Arts together.