Culture and art of Culture, science and technology

the revolutionary • The culture of the era was characterised by

secularisation, or a lesser degree of religious influence, as
period well as by obligatory and free public education for primary
school, which included
women for the first time, and by the growing
influence of the press and public opinion.
• Literature followed two maincurrents. Romanticism
was expressed in different genres, such as poetry
(Lord Byron), theatre (Johann Wolfgang
Goethe) and the novel (Victor
Hugo). Real
reflected the problems caused by industrialisat
in novels
by Stendhal and Charles Dickens.
• Science all
notably
progressed,
above
physics, chemistry and natural sciences, with the
revolutionary theory of the evolution of the species
by Charles Darwin. Technology was demonstrated
to the public in world's fairs, like the Great
Exhibition held in London in 1851.

Artistic expression
Romanticism
This artistic movement reached its peak in the first
half of the 19th century as a reaction to
Neoclassicism. It allowed for imagination, creativity,
fantasy and the expression of feelings.
• Architecture was inspired by past styles. The
historicist Style consisted of Neo-Romanesque buildings (the
Marseille Cathedral), Neo-Gothic (British Parliament) and Neo-
Baroque (Paris Opera). The eclectic Style combined various
historical Styles in one single building.
The only innovation was the use of iron and glass,
two new materials provided by industry, used in train
stations or the Crystal Palace of London (1851).
Sculpture was characterised by movement and facial
expressions. One of the most famous works is the
relief 'La Marseillaise', by François Rude.
Painting gave great importance to colour, light,
movement and expressiveness. The main topics
were present and past realities, costumbrismo,
depicting everyday reality and exotic scenes,
passion and love, disasters and tragedies, as
well as landscapes
In France, prominent painters were Théodore Gericault with The
Raft of the Medusa; and Eugàne Delacroix, with Liberty Leading
the People. In England, Romantic painting spawned an
important school of landscape painters, such as John
Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner.
 Realism
Realism developed in the period from the Revolution of 1848 to
the 1870s and was characterised by its inspiration coming from
reality and the representation of daily issues of common people.
The most well-known proponents of this Style were painters. Jean-
François Millet reflected the life of a traditional peasant in The Ange/us;
Gustave Courbet showed the harsh reality of work for commoners
in The Stone Breakers; and Honoré Daumier painted moments of
everyday life in The Third-Class Carriage and The Laundress.